For Worse & Better
by kdzl
Summary: JJ/Hotch. A series of events lead the small town girl and the boss to get married. Will they live happily ever after?
1. Finding Out

AN/ I really just love JJ & Hotch. In this story, JJ broke up with Will, and is NOT the father of the baby. Also, there's a really good story **A Bundle of Hope **that's a little similar, but different.

I don't own Criminal Minds, though I love it.

Finding out—Chapter 1

**_"More marriages might survive if the partners realized that sometimes the better comes after the worse." --Doug Larson_**

A stupid double line. That was the thing that was keeping SSA Jennifer Jareau up at 3:00 in the morning. She had a sinking suspicion for days that the event a little over a month before with her boss had left her in a precarious position. She rolled over and began to reflect on what had led up to this.

From the moment she entered the BAU she was drawn to him. All the women on the team knew of her pinning for him. He was unattainable, married, and their boss. Maybe it was the way he was completely in control, all of the time, or the way that he demanded respect whenever he walked into a room. When most people met him, they thought he was cold, demanding, and imposing. But, from the moment she met him, she knew that he was much more than that. She remembered when he interviewed her to work at the BAU. She was shocked at how young he was, but quickly recovered for the interview. His raven black hair and piercing brown eyes made her feel week in the knees. He was exactly what you would picture an FBI agent looking like—tall, dark and handsome, and the more she got to know him, the more she realized what a poster-boy for the FBI he really was.

Then the night came a little over a month ago, the night that seemed to change her life forever. They had been working together for years now, so why when she had gotten over her initial crush would they end up sleeping together? She knew the answer, that she had loved him for a long time. That she was hurting after finding out that Will wasn't being faithful and breaking it off with him. If she were honest with herself, she would know that she had gone to that bar hoping to run into him. It was his favorite place, and since his divorce from Hailey he went there often. They had drunk together…and talked together…and left together…and…well….

Then yesterday, she realized she was late…very late...and she had taken the test. A stupid double line. Funny, how two little lines could alter her life so much. Two little lines were what meant the difference between normalcy and whatever limbo she was now in. Was she going to lose her job? How would she tell her parents? They had always seen her as the good one. Of all of her siblings, SHE was the one that stayed out of trouble…that did exactly what she was supposed to do. Her brothers teased her mercilessly, and she had a sneaking suspicion that her little sister resented her for it. But, that didn't matter now, what mattered was that everything was now different. There was no going back. She knew that she would keep the baby, with her deep religious upbringing it wasn't really a question in her mind….but should she tell him? If so, HOW?

_What am I going to do?_ She thought. Sighing heavily, she rolled over to check the clock _3:07. URGH! _She thought, _FINE! This night is never going to end_. She sighed as she climbed out of bed…._What am I going to do?_

* * *

SSA Aaron Hotchner stared at the mound of paperwork that was beginning to litter his desk. He had always been an extremely organized person, but lately the paperwork and case load just seemed to be too much. His desk would never be like JJ's though, with mounds of files and papers strewn everywhere. Initially, one might think that it was just the random settling of files revealing her character as a slob. Hotch knew, though, that the mounds of papers were actually organized by importance, types of crime, and other methods that he hadn't quite figured out. There were just too many files for there to be any semblance of organization. That was one thing he loved about JJ. Everything was always in its place--she was immaculate in the way she dressed, spoke, and presented herself.

Hotch couldn't help but compare her to his former wife. The divorce had been final for a little over a month and he had been devastated. He was not the type of person to fail. Hailey had given up on him—he had just given her what she wanted. Hailey was kind and warm, but she couldn't accept that this job was who he is, not just what he does. Hailey wanted him to be a superhero, and he just couldn't keep it up anymore. JJ on the other hand was different. When someone first looked at her, they may think that she was insignificant and easily overridden. They would soon find that she was tough as nails, and ready to compete with the best of them. This is why she was so good at her job. She could be disarming and unimposing when she wanted to be, and then by carefully weaving her words and actions would convince people that they had thought up what she wanted them to. When that didn't work, she would adamantly put her foot down and show her dominance. She was kind and caring too, but strong.

_URGH!_ _I did it again_. Hotch thought with a frown. It seemed that no matter what he was doing or thinking about, his thoughts always seemed to turn to the blonde press liaison down the hall. Ever since that night, he just couldn't quite quell the feelings he had for her anymore. He was the first to admit that interoffice romances never worked, and that he as a superior should not have feelings for a member of his team. More importantly, He watched across the bullpen as she reached her office with such grace and beauty. It seemed that she could light up a room wherever she went.

_URGH! I did it again!_ With a sigh and a slight smile, he resigned himself to a day taking care of the paperwork that was beginning to mount.

* * *

"Hey, Garcia, can I ask you something" JJ asked as she stepped into Penelope Garcia's office.

"Of course, Jayje, you're my best friend. What do you need to ask the goddess of all wisdom and power?" Garcia said with a smile. Garcia knew that some people outside the BAU thought that her constant remarks were inappropriate, but she also knew how badly the people she worked with needed to smile to take their minds off of the horror that they faced every day. Something was different about JJ lately, though. She seemed worried about something, and although Garcia had asked her before, JJ had always denied it. She was elated that her friend was finally willing to talk about it. Looking up at JJ, Garcia noticed the dark circles under her eyes that were carefully concealed by makeup, but a girl always knows.

"Just a quick question" JJ seemed to avoid her eyes. She really needed advice, and Penelope was really the only person she trusted. At about 4:30 this morning she had finally come up with the idea to ask Penelope. She wasn't a profiler, and she was her best friend, so that would give her a lot of good advice without exposing herself. "If you were pregnant, would you tell the guy? If so, how would you tell him?"

Garcia's eyes got wide as she stared at JJ's stomach. _SHOOT! __Apparently ideas that come to you at early hours in the morning are not full proof!_ She kicked herself mentally; she should have known that Garcia would know immediately what was going on. JJ sighed as she made her way over to the chair next to Garcia, and began to tell her….well….almost everything. She didn't want to admit that it was Hotch just yet, just said it was a friend.

"Jayje, Wow! Well, I think first you have to know for sure. You should go to the doctor and just make sure. Tests can be wrong. I'll go with you if you want me to. JJ nodded.

"I guess I'll go make an appointment for this afternoon. Thanks Garcia." JJ said gratefully as she turned to leave. "Oh, and Garcia, will you please not--"

"I won't tell a soul," Garcia interrupted. JJ smiled as she left, maybe this wouldn't be so bad.

Garcia's mind was racing a million miles an hour. _Who's the father? _JJ had found out that Will was a southern sleazebag a while ago, and she was pretty sure she hadn't seen him or anyone else in a couple months. JJ was private, but with a friend like Garcia, privacy was more of a wish than a reality. Opening her laptop, Penelope began to make a list of all of the people it could possibly be…._Hmmm, who are JJ's friends…..The only people I can think of are the people we work with. _Under POSSIBLE FATHERS she listed _Will…unlikely, but still possible. Hotch…I know she's used to have a crush on him, but it's HOTCH. Morgan….nope, she'd never go after my dark chocolate thunder. Reid….maybe, but after what JJ said happened at the Skins game it just seemed like they were more friends than anything else. This is going to be interesting!_

* * *

They walked silently from the doctor's office to JJ's car. Garcia moved to the driver's seat with a look that she was not going to accept any argument. JJ silently handed her keys over to Garcia and walked around to the passenger's side.

About 10 minutes into their drive, Garcia finally interrupted the silence that had permeated the blue SUV. "So, how are you going to tell him?"She asked.

"Maybe I won't."JJ replied unsurely

"Jayje, you are my best friend, and I'll be behind you no matter what, but this baby deserves a mother and a father. If he chooses not to be involved in his baby's life, that's his choice, but he deserves the option." Garcia said passionately.

JJ sighed as she stared out the window. She knew Garcia was right. She had grown up in a large family, with her aunt and cousins living down the street. She always felt like she lived a charmed life. Yeah, sure, she had to figure a way to get to college, but she knew that her parents loved her. She was daddy's little girl. She remembered him teaching her to ride a bike for the first time, or grilling her boyfriends while she was getting ready to go out. Her dad was the type that was always sitting on the sidelines at soccer, or in the front row for graduation. Her child DID deserve a father in his or her life-she only hoped that the father would want to be involved.

Silently the blonde friends entered the BAU and Garcia headed into her office.

"Hey JJ, how was lunch?" Morgan offered as JJ walked across the Bullpen.

"Umm, it was ok…Where's Hotch?" She looked around nervously.

"In his office, I think…Why? Do we have a case?" Morgan asked teasingly. He knew as well as everybody else on the team how JJ had always had a crush on Hotch.

"Umm, no, I've just got to tell him something." JJ bit her lower lip, hoping that Morgan didn't see right through her façade.

Hotch looked up as JJ walked into his office and shut the door. She was obviously nervous, and he began to frown. If some case made JJ this nervous, it was going to be a bad one. "JJ what is it, do you have a case?" He asked stoically

"No, we just uh….need to talk… It's personal." She could barely control herself, she didn't know quite what to say, so she just decided to say it. "Umm, I'm just going to say this…I'm pregnant."

Hotch sank back into his chair, dumbfounded. "You're….pregnant?" She nodded.

"About 6 weeks." She added, the implications hitting him.

He was going to be a father, again. His divorce was barely final, and he was going to be a father again. "JJ, would you mind if we talked about this outside the office. I think there's a lot we need to talk about. How about we go to dinner tonight after work?" JJ nodded gratefully. Hotch knew that her emotions were running high, and if required to speak, they would probably betray her, and because of that she would avoid any attempts to talk to him now. She left, and he began his research. After spending years as an influential prosecutor, he knew how to get around loopholes….and he would have to in order to save his job, and hers.

JJ walked mechanically back to her office. She too began researching the FBI fraternization rules, and current precedents. Her job was to know the system, and if she wanted to keep her job, she was going to have to figure out what to do next.

* * *

They drove together in his black sedan to a Chinese restaurant. Chinese was JJ's favorite, and Hotch wanted to make her feel as comfortable as possible, but they still needed to be somewhere private. JJ was used to the silence that filled Hotch's car. She didn't feel like talking, and if he didn't….well, that just made the whole situation better. They took their seats at the booth in the far back corner with Hotch facing the door so he could check for anyone coming in. They placed their orders, and continued the awkward, uncomfortable silence. Finally, Hotch decided he couldn't wait any longer.

"JJ, we have to talk about this. What are your plans?" He said, hoping that she wouldn't choose to end the innocent life that they had co-created. However, he did feel that it was mostly her choice.

"Well," she started "I'm planning on keeping it. Whether you want to be there or not it up to you, but I thought it was only fair to let you know. I'd like for this baby to have a father, but if you aren't up to it, nobody ever has to know." She said resolutely. She didn't NEED him; she just wanted to give him a chance to do the right thing. If he chose that this was going to be too hard, well, she was perfectly capable of doing it without him.

"Why wouldn't I want to be there? I want this baby to have a father too, and I want to be it." He said.

The look of relief was evident in her eyes as she asked, "well, what are we going to do? Personally and **professionally"**-she emphasized. She wanted him to know that even if he hadn't thought about their jobs, she had.

"Well, I think that they kind of go together, but let's deal with the professional issue first. Technically, I am your boss, so if it comes out that you are pregnant; I'm likely to be disciplined for sexual harassment. Heaven knows there are people out there that want to ruin my career. You probably would be transferred to a different department, and although allegations of impropriety wouldn't show on your record, we both know it won't be easy for you to continue at the FBI." She nodded; she knew just how truthful his words were. If this came out the wrong way BOTH their careers would be over.

"The way I see it," Hotch continued, "we have a few options." He said, listing them off on his fingers. "Option 1: one or both of us quit the FBI or transfer. Now I don't like that idea, because I happen to like my job….what do you think?" He asked although he already knew the answer. JJ had been offered lucrative positions throughout the FBI and some at prestigious PR firms around the country and turned them all down. It was obvious that although her job at the BAU was inarguably the hardest, she loved it.

"I don't want to leave." She said quietly. "What's option 2?"

"Now here's where it gets creative. Fraternization rules state that a relationship must be disclosed to the bureau within 60 days of the beginning of the relationship. Normally, reassignment follows shortly after when an inter-team relationship develops."Her eyes darkened and her brow furrowed as she listened—_how was this any better? _

"But," he continued, "I found a clause that states that married couples working in the bureau cannot be transferred, reassigned, or dismissed without just cause. Just cause is then explicitly defined, and working with your spouse or FORMER spouse is not one of the cases." She looked at him confused,

"What are you saying?" She asked, perplexed.

"I'm saying," Hotch continued, "that our "relationship" officially began 40 days ago." Her eyes widened and a look of understanding dawned across her face.

"So, if we were to get married, there would be no way that they could do anything, even if we got divorced….but, we'd need to do it as quickly as possible to prevent them from disputing it." He nodded.

"The other thing is that if something were to happen to me, I would want this baby to have as much claim to everything as Jack does. This isn't something I normally tell the team, but I have a substantial portfolio and my parents left me a large sum of money when they died. Jack has a large trust fund, and I would want our baby to have the same." She looked at him surprised, he had just referred to the child as "our baby", she hadn't really thought of that.

"If we WERE to get married, we'd need to stay married for at least a year and a half to establish the validity of our marriage. After that, we could get a divorce, and keep our jobs." He looked at her triumphantly.

"So…"JJ paused, "is there an option 3?" She asked.

"Yeah, we don't do anything, we're both fired, and pretty much end up like option 1. Or, you could claim sexual harassment and I get fired and you keep your job." JJ nodded. She hadn't been expecting this, but she knew where the outcomes led. There really wasn't an option, but Hotch had given her hope.

Her mind was spinning as she tried to come up with what to do next. "Well," she started "I don't know about you, but if we're going to do this we have to make it real". He nodded and interrupted "Actually, I've been thinking about a time frame. I wanted to make sure this would be something you wanted to do" she nodded and he continued "so, if we're both in this together, I think we need to get married this weekend. Since today is Friday, that means we could get married tomorrow or Sunday and then face the director on Monday."

"That way we have plausible deniability!" She exclaimed excited at how well Hotch had figured this all out. She knew he was a good lawyer, she just didn't know he was this good. "If we just suddenly got married, than it won't appear that we were trying to outwit the bureau. So, logistically, how are we going to do this?" She asked. This just might work.

"Well, we need to be living in the same place. Either I could move in with you, or you could move in with me. I do have more space, that way we'd have plenty of room."

JJ nodded and replied "I can move in with you then, my apartment now is kind of small, it'd probably be easier for me to move anyway."

"There's only one more thing then." He said with a small smile on the tip of his lips.

"_What?" Sh_e asked she thought that they had covered everything and this entire thing was starting to feel more like a case briefing than an intimate discussion between...well, she didn't even know how she would classify her and Hotch's relationship right now.

Coyly he responded "I've always been an old fashioned guy, you don't really think I'd marry a girl without first meeting her parents, do you?" He looked deeply into her confused eyes," what if we got on a plane right now, and we can get married in Pennsylvania with your parents as witnesses tomorrow?" She smiled shyly.

"Ooops, I almost forgot", he said, reaching into his pocket, "Jennifer Jareau, will you marry me?" He winked as he pulled out an engagement ring. It wasn't large or ornate, but simple and probably worth several hundred to a thousand dollars.

"Sure" she said with a small giggle as he put the ring on her left ring-finger, "but just a question…how did you know I'd say yes?"

"I'm good at my job" was the coy reply.

* * *

Aaron looked across the aisle of the commercial plane at the beautiful woman that he had secretly had an attraction for since he interviewed her to be their department liaison. The plane was about to take off, and while JJ had never been one to enjoy the flights with the team; she never had a problem before. If he didn't know her better, he would have thought this was the first time she had ever flown on a plane. Seeing her white knuckles and eyes focused on the chair in front of her like it was a life or death situation, his curiosity was piqued.

"JJ," he asked "what's wrong?"

"Umm, nothing, I'm fine." She replied, not moving her head to look at him

He smiled. She was always one to be strong, never admitting her weaknesses.

"Is it your parents?" He asked gently

She sighed loudly, and still not looking at him, responded "Its ridiculous is what it is. I'm 30 years old and I'm scared to tell my parents."

* * *

AN/ let me know what you think!


	2. Telling Family

AN/So, to catch you up, Hotch and JJ are getting married, but are headed back to JJ's parents. Also, see the first chapter for any disclaimers

* * *

Hotch smiled as he left the woman to his side to collect her to her thoughts. Looking at her sideways, he began to profile her, using what he had long ago memorized in her file to help him fill in the details. JJ was a gifted soccer player that used an athletic scholarship to help her go to college and graduate with a double major in Criminal Justice and Public Relations from Pittsburg. She had been the top of her class in the Academy and her success with the bureau proved that she was gifted in PR. Oldest daughter of Matthew and Amy Jareau, she had two older brothers.

She didn't talk about her family much, nor did she request a lot of personal time. Of course she spent most major holidays in Pennsylvania, so her relationship with her family probably wasn't strained. The way she could hold her own with police officers and the press showed that she was resolved enough not to back down easily. He knew she liked football, but she didn't cheer for any Pennsylvania teams, so it was likely some form of rebellion against what was popular in her area. She likely was close to one or more of her older brothers, and was definitely more of a 'daddy's girl.' She worked hard, harder than most people would assume she had to—likely because her father was a blue collar worker that emphasized the value of hard work.

At first glance, many people would assume that Jennifer Jareau was soft and nurturing and kind. This was likely the influence of her mother, a woman who was also likely respected for being kind. JJ had a natural ability to relate to victims, especially young women. He would never ask her about it, but she probably knew or was close to someone who had been a victim of a violent crime. Her nurturing side was likely enhanced by her little sister.

The rest of the plane ride was mostly silent, and honestly too short in JJ's opinion. They quickly gathered their things and Hotch loaded up the rental car and opened the door for her. JJ was in no mood to talk, and was somewhat grateful for Hotch's profession so she could avoid talking right now. She was on an emotional rollercoaster, and had barely had time to process things. The pregnancy hormones weren't helping, as she was constantly vomiting and moody.

Looking out the window at the passing scenery, JJ's mind was reeling with all of the emotions that she hadn't had time to process. She was pregnant! She was marrying Hotch! One day she goes from being a single working woman, and now in order to keep her job she was marrying a man she had been attracted to for years—it was all just a little too much to handle. She felt as though her current situation was much more like a dream than reality, and had to keep reminding herself that this was real.

They arrived quickly at her parent's home. Hotch smiled at the white picket fence and daisies that lined the driveway. There was a large oak tree at the side of the house with a rope swing, and the yard was quite large with a vegetable garden in the backyard that was visible from in front of the house. He turned to JJ who was intently studying her hands.

"Are you ready?" He asked softly. This had to be hard on the younger woman, but as always, she straightened her back and nodded definitely.

Before she could move to exit the rental car, Hotch had moved around to open the door for her. Unbeknownst to the couple, JJs mother had seen them drive up and were intently studying the couple from behind the curtains in the front room. "Matthew!" She called quickly. "Jennifer is here! With a man!"

Matthew Jareau slowly put down the novel he was reading and looked at his wife through his spectacles. "Well, she's probably going to be coming in a minute, so maybe we should wait for her to knock on the door before we start prying into her dating life." He said with a grin

"Oh! Here they come! Act natural!" She said as she darted to the kitchen and her husband chuckled. The doorbell sounded and Matt Jareau moved to answer the front door.

"Daddy!" JJ smiled as she saw her father in the open doorway.

"There's my princess!" Hotch stepped sideways to allow her dad to hug his daughter.

Hotch couldn't help but grin at the interaction between father and daughter. Matt Jareau was a tall slender man who had obviously spent years working physical labor. He had short silver hair and light blue eyes. The resemblance between father and daughter was unmistakable.

"Where's mom? I know she was spying on us through the window, did she run back to the kitchen?" JJ asked her father smiling as the trio moved inside the house.

"Oh, Jennifer, what a surprise! We had no idea you were coming!" Her mother said as she stepped around the corner. Amy Jareau was a short, pleasant looking woman with dark hair lined with streaks of grey and brown eyes. She moved quickly to her daughter and after giving her a quick hug looked her over.

"Are you eating well? You look too skinny to me. It was that Will boy! Wasn't it? I knew he was bad news from the start." Amy said without taking a pause. "You know, Jennifer, you always tend to date these losers." She turned to Hotch. "Ever since Jonathan Davis in high school broke her heart, she always goes for men that are beneath her. Like that Steven, do you remember him? Ooo, if I ever get my hands on him…."

"Mom, stop it!." JJ said warningly, this was not the time to be filling Hotch in on her romantic history. Truth be told, every time JJ brought a guy home to meet her parents, it had always ended badly. That was why she tried to keep her love life, and work life, separate from her family.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I forget my manners. Hi, I'm Amy Jareau, and this is my husband Matthew. You must be"— she left his name hanging so that he could introduce himself.

"Aaron Hotchner, JJ and I work together and I would like to speak to you, sir, if you don't mind." Hotch said to JJ's dad as JJ's mom's eyes widened.

"Please call me Matt." JJ's dad stuck out his hand and Hotch shook it firmly.

"Why don't we go outside and chat, the girls can make up something for us to eat for lunch." Matt Jareau said to the group. The pair exited out the front door as JJ and her mother moved to the kitchen.

Outside, the men moved around to the side of the house that sported a covered patio and porch swing. "Sir, I know you don't know a lot about me, but I am asking for permission to marry your daughter." Hotch said quickly.

Matt looked up at him, "I expected as much, I saw the ring on her finger. Let me ask you something. Why haven't I heard more about you?"

Hotch looked at him guiltily, _I might as well just tell him everything_, Hotch thought.

"I got divorced a few months ago. I've always liked your daughter, but I was married, so nothing could come of it." Matt nodded and remained quiet, which Hotch took as a signal to continue. "About a month and a half ago, the divorce was final, and your daughter and I…well…we…" He began to stammer feeling unusually bashful. How exactly was he supposed to tell a father that he impregnated this man's daughter?

"I'm assuming you don't want to marry her just because you slept with her once." Matt Jareau said quietly.

"JJ and I are expecting a child. We want your blessing, but I would like to marry her here. Tomorrow." Hotch said after a moment of silence.

Matt looked deeply at Hotch. He could see the way the younger man looked at his daughter. Even though this man seemed stoic, he seemed to genuinely care for the welfare of his little girl.

"I assume that you won't encourage JJ to change her job? Heaven knows that her mother has tried, and JJ loves that job."

"That's part of the reason we're doing this. If we get married, she can keep everything that is important to her," Hotch said quietly

"I will give you my blessings on two conditions. One, you treat this like a real marriage. You protect my baby girl, and if you hurt her so help me I will kill you with my bare hands. Do I make myself clear?" Hotch nodded and attempted not to smile.

"The second condition?" Hotch asked the older man

"Don't you dare tell her mother she's pregnant until at least a month after you're married." Matt said smiling.

Back inside, the women had finished making lunch and were busy making a peach cobbler. JJ and her mother were sporting matching aprons. JJ was busy slicing and peeling the peaches, while her mother was making the topping. The kitchen was small, but clean. All of the cabinets were immaculately organized, and if not for the cooking that was going on at the moment, it would have been spotless.

"Now is this Aaron Hotchner the one that's your boss? The one that you've always thought was charming and attractive? The one that was married with a little boy, whose wife cheated on him?" Amy asked knowingly.

"Yes mom."

"And he is the reason that there is a beautiful ring on a prominent finger?" Amy asked excitedly

"Yeah." JJ responded shyly, "We're getting married!" she informed her mother, attempting to sound enthusiastic.

"Ooo! There is so much to plan! When's the date? Where would you like it to be? We can make it such a big extravaganza! Oh, Jennifer, I'm so excited!" Amy squealed and began to rant.

"Mom, actually that's why we're here. We want to get married tomorrow. Spontaneously?" JJ interrupted unsurely.

Her mom paused for a moment, seemingly contemplating the news. "HOW ROMANTIC!" She finally said. "Now, if you're getting married tomorrow, you need to call your brothers, and Jessica. NO WAIT! You and Aaron had better go shopping for a dress and—I don't know that he needs a suit, because the one he was wearing was very nice" JJ smiled as her mother continued "NO! You and Aaron can't go shopping together. I will call your brothers and sister. Jessica and I will meet you at that nice little shop on Baker's Street. You go!" She finished as the men walked back in the door.

Matt Jareau moved over to his daughter quickly and gave her a hug. "I know everything. I'm so happy for you. Congratulations, princess" he whispered into her ear.

The rest of that day and the next passed quickly. Hotch and JJ left to purchase much needed clothing. "Well, that wasn't nearly as bad as I had expected." Hotch broke the silence as they left the Jareau family home.

JJ laughed. "Yeah, the worst is yet to come, you still haven't met my brothers."

"I have negotiated with some of the worst sociopaths in history, I think I can handle the Jareau men." He said winningly.

They drove to the main street of the town, lined with small boutiques that seemed to exemplify the small town. Walking up and down the street, Hotch was amazed at the different collection of small stores that lined the main road. Everything from clothing stores, to coin collecting stores, with a diner here and there.

A loud shrieking from behind startled the two seasoned FBI agents. While Hotch's hand flew to the holstered gun at his hip, JJ turned and was quickly attacked by a small woman with chocolate hair. "JESSIE!" JJ squealed as she wrapped her sister in a hug.

"Hotc--erm, Aaron, this is my sister Jessie. Jessie, this is Aaron Hotchner, my fiancé." JJ introduced after pulling apart from the younger woman. If JJ resembled her father, this woman was a carbon copy of their mother. Dark eyes and chocolate brown hair with tanner skin than her older sister, there was still quite a bit of family resemblance.

Matt and Amy Jareau quickly joined the group outside one of the many small shops and the women quickly made plans to utilize their afternoon shopping. Matt Jareau quickly took Hotch aside and whispered, "I'm here to save you. Maybe if we don't make any sudden movements, they won't notice we're leaving."

Matt and Hotch were only feet away in their escape when Jessie called to them, "Dad, where're you taking him. As future husband, I think he should come."

Suppressing a groan the men were about to rejoin the women when Amy Jareau surprised the entire group by saying, "No, why don't you men go home. Matthew, leave the keys and you can introduce Aaron to the boys. We'll be home in time to make dinner." The women screamed and practically pranced into the store while the men rushed to the car, hoping to get away before the girls could change their minds.

* * *

In Hotch's mind dealing with terrorists would be more fun than dealing with a gaggle of women searching for wedding dresses, so returning to the Jareau home was a welcome opportunity. The 'boys' as Amy had called them quickly congregated at their family home, and to Hotch's dismay, each one could easily be mistaken for a locomotive train or a brick wall. Both men were large of stature and extremely muscular and well built. Suddenly, Hotch envisioned a wrestling match with the oldest brother Charlie and Morgan. Morgan would have broken like a stick. Hotch was not one to be intimidated by others, but he knew for sure he did not want to get on the bad side of these men.

Turning on ESPN, the men sat around the TV drinking beer and discussing football statistics. Laughing, Hotch quickly impressed the Jareau men, although JJ's brothers had each individually taken Hotch aside to threaten him if he ever turned out like most of the other men JJ dated. Already smelling a roast in the oven, Hotch assumed that in the short time that JJ and he had left and the time the women met them downtown the Jareau matriarch had already prepared a lavish meal.

* * *

Looking around the table, one may have thought that a Thanksgiving meal was being shared between families. The JJ's older brothers, Charlie and Drew, had both brought their families over to their childhood home to meet their new 'uncle.' The kids were seated at a small table in the front room, with the adults seated around a large dining room table. Dinner had been delicious, and the group were now attempting to share all of JJ's most embarassing moments with Hotch.

JJ, for her part, had attempted in vain to distract and redirect her family's conversation flow countless times. But, as gifted as JJ was, she was no match for the combined effort of her family. Defeated, she resigned herself to laughing softly in her seat, often covering her face with her hands as the most embarassing stories were shared.

"And do you remember that one time JJ got stuck in the tree?" Charlie asked, her brothers laughing so hard there were tears in their eyes.

"Yeah" Jessie chimed in mockingly, "and she was like 'help me down or when I get down from here you'll eat dirt' and we left her up there for hours!" The group broke into laughter once more as JJ hung her head in mock embarrassment.

"Ok, guys, I'm sure Aaron's heard enough." JJ said, attempting one last time to deflect her brothers' teasing.

"Oh, what about the time Jennifer kissed Brad Soren in the middle of class?" Her mother ignored JJ's plea and continued the game.

After her family tired of JJ's discomfort her siblings one by one left for their homes. JJ's mother insisted that JJ and Hotch not sleep in the same room saying it was 'bad luck' for the new couple. Hotch quickly fell asleep in the guest room decorated with stars and planets while JJ made futile attempts to fall asleep in her childhood bedroom.

The ceremony early the next morning was simple, even with Amy flustering to make sure that everything was perfect. JJ looked elegant in a strapless cream evening gown, with her curled and pulled up. Hotch looked equally handsome in a new suit and red tie. After the ceremony, JJ and Hotch had to quickly say their goodbyes in order to catch their commercial flight back to DC. JJ was noticeably calmer and as the plane quickly made its way to DC the 'newlywed' couple began discussing logistics.

They decided to speak to the director early the next morning. Because it was already late, they decided that they would stay at JJ's apartment for the night since it was closer and he could then easily wash the essentials. She would move into his house after they spoke with the director, with her clothes and essentials and then they'd schedule a day to move the rest of her furniture later.

* * *

Emily Prentiss thought this morning would be just like any other Monday morning. She was usually the first or second one into the BAU. Sometimes Hotch or JJ beat her in, and the Director was always there early in the morning, but for her unit, she was usually first or second. She liked it that way, she still felt a little like she didn't fit in with the rest of the team, but every day she felt that less and less.

The women on the team had immediately accepted her. She had a feeling that JJ hadn't really gotten along with the woman she replaced, since JJ had been almost overly welcoming. Garcia was not too far behind. It was really like a club that has to stick together. They were probably her best friends and she knew that although JJ and Garcia were close, the 'dynamic duo' (as Garcia dubbed the pair) was fast becoming a trio.

Emily continued her morning routine, dropping files and her bag at her desk, making her way over to the coffee maker and starting a fresh batch when she suddenly noticed Hotch and JJ in the Director's office with Section Chief Strauss. Hotch was standing back, while JJ seemed to be explaining a long story. Emily's curiosity was piqued. JJ HATED talking to the director, and whenever she had to, Hotch was never around. No one in the BAU liked Strauss, especially JJ who tended to avoid the section chief like the plague. JJ had confided her long-time crush on Hotch, and Emily thought it endearing, especially since in Emily's opinion, they were a beautiful couple. Nevertheless it was odd that all four were together intently discussing something.

"What's going on?" A voice behind her made her jump.

"Morgan! Shhh. What do YOU think is going on?" Emily said gesturing across the bullpen to the director's office.

"Hmm", Morgan said as they watched JJ give the director paperwork and use her "dealing with the press" stance suggesting she was carefully trying to convince him of something.

The director then shook both of their hands, and as Hotch & JJ went to exit his office, a resounding "Congratulations" was heard throughout the office, followed by Section Chief Strauss looking at JJ, Hotch, and the rest of the group with distain. JJ & Hotch quickly made a b-line for their respective offices. _I wonder what is going on_ Emily wondered.

JJ was not in the mood to hear Emily's speculation. Immediately after reaching her desk, she texted Hotch _How are we going to tell the team? I didn't even think about that._Just then, JJ heard a knock on her door and looked up to see Garcia & Emily in the doorway, and saw the reply from Hotch, _I'll take care of it ok?_ Responding to his text in the affirmative, she directed her attention to her friends.

"Ok baby cakes…spill. What's up?" Garcia was answered by Emily's sharp intake of breath and finger pointing at the ring now situated on JJ's left hand.

"Shut the door," JJ commanded her two best friends.

The door slammed behind them as they both stared at JJ. "OK, this may sound really complicated. I'm pregnant…Hotch is the father…we got married so we can keep our jobs." She blurted out. "OK, maybe it's a lot less complicated then I thought". She finished with a sigh.

"YOU WHAT?!"Emily and Garcia said in unison.

"I—we just thought"--She was saved from any further explanation by her phone "Agent Jareau…yeah, I've seen the case-file…I'm presenting it to my team this morning and I'll get back to you…ok…ok…thanks." She looked up at her friends, whose gaze hadn't shifted from her while she had been on the phone. "Umm, we've got a new case, briefing in 10."

"WOAH, hold it right there Lovebird," Garcia interjected, "don't think you're getting off that easy. If you are traveling to a case, the next night you are in DC we are getting all the sultry details…coppice?" JJ nodded, and began to gather files and prepare for thebriefing

"Em, can you let everybody know we're briefing on a case in 10?" Emily followed Garcia out of the room, and began to get everybody gathered in the conference room.

* * *

AN/ let me know if there's anything you'd like to see happen.


	3. The Case

Chapter 3--The Case

"Angela Mar"—JJ began

"Let me say something first"—Hotch interrupted—"JJ and I have something to tell you,"

"You mean besides briefing us about the case?" Morgan asked jokingly

"JJ will be moving after this case, and she'll need our help." Hotch said cryptically.

Prentiss smiled knowingly as the others looked at Hotch confused. "Sure, we'll help, JJ where are you moving?" Rossi questioned as JJ struggled to answer.

"JJ will be moving in with me. We were married yesterday. I don't anticipate this will have any problems on the team. Thank you for your help" Hotch said officially, although a rare smile graced his lips.

"Did you know that the District of Columbia has the lowest divorce rate in the country at about 1.7 of marriages ending in divorce last year?" Reid asked in typical fashion.

"I think that all of my failed marriages account for the entire divorce rate in DC" Rossi said with a smile.

"Why am I the last to know everything?" Morgan whined, "I didn't even know you were dating."

"Yeah, I can't believe that you didn't even invite us." Prentiss teased.

"You know Hotch, I've invited you to every single one of my weddings, and I don't even get so much as a heads up?" Rossi asked with a gleam in his eye.

JJ sighed, knowing that she might as well reveal everything to the group of profilers that would all figure out her secret in time. Her training had engrained in her the idea that if information was going to leak, it was better to let it out than to let the press, or in this case her friends, make a bigger deal out of some small piece of information. If it had to come out, she might as well just say it.

"Umm, we're pregnant...so, that's kinda why it was so hurried." Looks of shock turned to smiles as the team errupted in chatter.

Everyone smiled and congratulated JJ & Hotch until Section Chief Strauss entered. "You all know Assistant Director Erin Strauss, she will be joining us for the duration of this case." Hotch smiled weakly at JJ. They had prepared for this—the FBI was not going to let them keep their jobs without evaluating their performance as a couple. This was going to be excruciating.

"Angela Martindale was found wandering a dirt road in rural Arizona. She had been beaten, branded and raped. She's the fifth to be abducted from Phoenix, and all of the victims were discovered in the small Arizona town. All of the victims have been in their mid to late 20s, blonde hair, blue eyes, all worked in male dominated fields—a doctor, a cop, an architect, and a CEO of a fortune 500 company and were in Arizona on business." JJ explained calmly to the team seated at the round table. "Carla Jones was 8 weeks pregnant."

"How long did he keep them?" Morgan questioned, intently staring at the crime scene photos that flashed in front of the team.

"All victims were missing for eight to ten days, with this symbol" JJ explained clicking the remote to show a picture with the magnified version of the seared skin in the shape of a sideways 8 "branded on their right hip and nap of the neck."

"So, he's picking on educated white women, who should be able to defend themselves." Emily stated. "He obviously has a problem with women in positions of power, and he's not likely to stop any time soon."

"Yeah, and he doesn't have a high regard for life, He wants to demean these women and make them his." Reid added

"We need to catch this UNSUB before he graduates to murder" Morgan finished with everyone nodding in agreement.

"Wheels up in 20?" JJ suggested, with a look of determination.

The team looked at each other nervously. Everyone wanted to ask JJ the question that was burning in all of their minds, but no one was willing to take on JJ if she got upset. JJ was one person who the team knew better than to cross.

"Umm, JJ, are you going to be in the field in this case?" Rossi bravely asked "I mean, you do have a striking resemblance to the victims and you are….well…you know. Maybe you should just stay back here and conference with the team." He suggested.

"It's JJ's choice whether she joins us on this case," Hotch interjected, and turning to the blonde at his side, finished "although I must admit, I think you'd be safer with Garcia here in Quantico." Hotch's eyes showed concern for his one of his youngest team members….his WIFE, he reminded himself trying hard not to smile at that fact.

"I'll see you all on the plane," she said "if YOU decide to come." And with that she left the room, heading straight to her office.

It had been a longer plane ride than JJ had anticipated. Combine the long plane ride with the beginnings of morning sickness and turbulence, and the plane ride felt like an eternity. She avoided moaning loudly as the team continued to discuss the particulars of the case. She needed to pay enough attention to be ready for any press conferences, but she was content to sit back and let the team do their job. It was only the voice of her long-time crush and now husband that pulled her out of the trance-like state she felt had overcome her.

"JJ, Morgan, why don't you take Strauss and go straight to the police department and work with the detectives and victimology?" Hotch suggested.

He continued to pass out assignments in preparation for their imminent landing while keeping one eye on JJ. There was no way he was going to put her in danger in this case. He wanted to be extra careful, making sure she was protected, but any hint of impropriety or protection might get one or both of them transferred. He had to let her do her job, he had already decided this, but it didn't mean he had to feed her to the wolves. He would be there for protection, after all that is what any husband would do.

After the briefing, the team went as though they would disperse to go to sleep. JJ moved to the far couch, and pretended to sleep for a few minutes before feelings of nausea overcame her and she bolted for the restroom. After Strauss had complained loudly about the flight, and went to go give the pilots a piece of her mind, the rest of the team seemed to sense an informal briefing.

The profilers wordlessly gathered around Hotch, who began quietly—"We obviously have a potential victim as a member of our team. I do not want her left alone-EVER. We have to keep our eyes peeled and stay extra vigilant." The team nodded in agreement, and just as quickly as they had congregated, they dispersed as Strauss left the cockpit.

"We land in 5 minutes" she announced to no one in particular.

* * *

He knew the moment he saw her that she loved him. There she was, exiting the plane first, she was probably their leader, and she lookd right at him. They connected. She was excuisite, and they were perfect together. His hand clenched the can of beer that sat in his hand as he saw the dark haired man come up and grab his beautiful blonde's hand in his. The can crumpled in his hand as he saw the blonde smile up at the dark haired man. _TRAITOR _James thought to himself. Soon, she would be his, and she wouldn't leave him like the others. She would be his, forever.

* * *

They had_ finally_let her do a press conference. Reid, Emily, Rossi, and Morgan had all taken painstakingly long to agree to let her do the press conference even as Hotch continued to protest. She knew they were worried, but she couldn't just stand by and let women be violated while her team protected her. Finally Strauss had ok'd the press conference and for the first time this case, JJ was glad Erin Strauss was there, even if she would never admit it aloud. The woman had been a pain the entire trip, questioning every decision the team made. She wasn't as bad as she had been the first time, but every member of the team was at the end of their rope. _At least I didn't have _to_ room with her! _JJ thought with a smile. JJ had been rooming with Hotch, which had left both feeling awkward and uncomfortable. She was glad they didn't have to share a bed. He was driving her crazy with his over protectiveness. She couldn't even go to the bathroom by herself without him checking on her or sending Prentiss in after her, but she knew it was just because her "family" wanted to protect her.

It was odd the way things were now. Years of working with him, and she had definitely imagined senarios where they were married or sharing rooms together on a case, but it was different. It was just...awkward. Although they were married, it felt as though they barely knew eachother. And now, they were expected to share a room and...it was really just hard to understand. Had she not fit the victimology, and Strauss not been on the case with them, Hotch may have thought to drop the ruse. But, as it were, she was here with her overprotective 'husband' fighting to do the job that she was made to do.

They were baiting him, weeding him out, and she was the bait. Going 'on air' was something she was used to, but she was a little nervous. She hadn't ever thought she was in harms way before. Although she loved the thrill of baiting the UNSUB, she just wasn't sure this was the best idea. Not that she could go back on it now, after fighting tooth and nail to have them let her do her job, she wouldn't admit to anybody her fears.

Silently she stood at the podium and answered the questions that she manipulated the reporters into asking. Hotch, once again, was amazed at her ability. She would coyly drop a piece of information and wait for the reporters to pounce on it. Then she'd act as though they had forced her to give up more information than she wanted, all the while preparing the next set of questions and information drops.

The press conference was all too uneventful. Reporters thinking that they were among the elite, picking up scraps from the table. They hounded her with questions, but she easily dissuaded, encouraged, and redirected whenever was necessary. They were looking for a man in his mid to late 30's, possibly dilusional, egotistical, with borderline personality disorder, probably living with his mother or sister, and having had a girlfriend or significant other that resembled the victims. If Hotch was honest with himself, he'd admit that the press conference was the best way of catching this UNSUB. Not because of the help from the media, but because this USNUB would definitely try to contact JJ.

After 3 hours of waiting at the tip hotline with no viable leads, JJ was exhausted. She just wanted to go back to the hotel, and take a nice long bath. Days of morning sickness and sleeping in a hotel room were wearing on her, and it was visible to her team, although she masked it well. Emily, sensing her exhaustion said, "JJ, why don't we go back to the hotel, and you can rest. I'm not much good here."

"Yeah, JJ take Prentiss back to the hotel and both of you should get some sleep. You did well today." Rossi said, looking over at Hotch, who nodded in agreement.

Seeing that she was overridden, JJ didn't bother to argue. Collecting their things, Emily grabbed the keys to one of the FBI SUV's and the women made their arduous journey out of the local police office. Neither noticed the black figure that emerged from the alley on their right.

"You LIED!" The hooded figure cried, pointing a gun at JJ.

Prentiss and JJ quickly turned around, drawing their weapons. The man was stout, and short, with sandy hair and green eyes. He wore jeans and a dark hooded jacket that allowed his scruffy sandy hair to poke through.

"You LIED!" He repeated flailing the firearm in the air and repointing it at the blonde agent.

"I just told the public the truth." JJ searched frantically for the words that would calm the UNSUB.

Emily Prentiss was rarely scared. But with an UNSUB flailing a gun towards her pregnant friend, the one person who immediately accepted her, she felt her knees shake as she was compelled to act. "Hey, we just want to talk. What's your name?" She said trying in vain to sound calm.

"Daniel" The man answered, obviously frantic, "she shouldn't have lied to them." He said defiantly.

"No, you're right. She shouldn't have lied to them" Prentiss answered, her gun still trained on the man's chest. Immediately after the words escaped her lips, she knew she shouldn't have agreed with him.

Daniel immediately became more agitated and began to pace, ranting and keeping his gun trained on JJ. Babbling to himself and looking from JJ to Prentiss back to JJ, Daniel missed JJ's hands discreetly move to her cell and send a text to her team.

"No. I did not do anything wrong. Those women _liked_ it. She LIED. She should know her place." He continued in his rant.

Within moments the rest of the team, Strauss, and the police force silently surrounded Daniel from behind. JJ, knowing they needed a confession, and knowing that he was most likely to divulge information to her, decided to try and antagonize Daniel.

"So if I was so wrong, why don't you tell me why you attacked all of those women." She asked intensely.

"You said I was a _predator_." Daniel said increduously.

"Well, what are you then?" JJ asked

"Those women _belonged_ to me, I just made them remember. I gave them something to always remember." Daniel seemed to finally decide on what to do with the two women, never noticing the crowd behind him with their guns trained on him. He lunged toward the women, who quickly reacted by getting out of the others' line of fire.

Morgan, who was standing left of the group just out of Daniel's line of sight, pounced on the man dragging him to the ground and gruffly cuffed him.

"Tell them she LIED," Daniel wailed as the officers began to drag him into the station.

The team, plus Strauss, immediately ran to the two female agents.

"Emily, JJ, are you two alright?" Ried asked sensitively.

"Yeah, we're fine." Emily answered. JJ, however, was immediately overcome with a bout of nausea and wasn't able to answer the team, instead running towards the alleyway to find a discreet place to empty the contents of her stomach.

"Hey," Hotch said after the retching had stopped.

"Hey," JJ smiled, wiping the corners of her mouth with the back of her hand.

"I'm glad you're ok. You did well." Hotch said sincerely.

"Thanks." JJ answered, trying to stop her stomach from revolting once more.

"Hey, why don't I have Emily take you back to the hotel, and we can finish up here. There won't be much more." He said, knowing that only an exhausted Jennifer Jareau would be willing to leave before the rest of the team and before she had finished all of her paperwork.

"Yeah, that'd be nice." She finished, walking over to the black SUV that had been her original destination. _Why can't this job ever be easy?_ she thought to herself.

* * *

Strauss had begrudgingly informed Hotch that her report would show the BAU was in accordance to all the regulations. The entire team was thrilled at the opportunity to defeat the ornery woman who tended to make their lives miserable every time she walked into the room. Leaving the next morning, the plane ride was unusually quiet as Strauss slept in the corner, while JJ pretended to sleep on the couch and Reid and Prentiss played cards with Morgan. Rossi took this opportunity to chat with his longtime colleague.

"That was pretty crazy last night, huh?" Rossi asked Hotch quietly enough not to be overheard by the other passengers on the plane.

"Yeah, it was a little intense." Hotch replied, not looking up from his paperwork.

"How are you doing?" Rossi continued to interrogate his friend.

"I'm fine." Was the short reply

"You know, you've been going though some big events the past what...six days?" Rossi ventured

"Yeah. A week ago I was a 40 year old single divorced man with a son. Now, I'm married, expecting a baby, and my _wife_was held at gunpoint last night. I'd say fine is about the best I can do." Hotch said quietly, still not lookling up from his file.

"You know, she really likes you." Rossi answered after a moments hesitation, he continued "I know something's weird between you two, but you can't let it be. It is what it is. You're married now. Whether that's weird or not is up to you, but I don't think you're going to have to try too hard to win that girl over."

"We're married. What makes you think I haven't already?" Hotch replied annoyed putting the file down to finally look at Rossi.

"If you two weren't both feeling uncomfortable with each other, you wouldn't be sitting here talking to me. You would be over there," Rossi continued, motioning to JJ, "talking to the pregnant girl that was just held at gunpoint. But, don't listen to me, I don't know anything about marriage, my ex-wives would all attest." Rossi finished with a smile.

Looking at Rossi, Hotch knew his friend was right. Moving to the seat across from the couch, he studied the friend he had worked with for so long. She really was beautiful. But, it was that type of beautiful where she knew she wasn't ugly, but stopped short of ever calling herself pretty. He, and probably everyone else, could tell when she was really asleep. She rarely slept on the plane anymore, Hotch realized. When she was pretending to sleep, she curled her limbs tightly around her, wrapped in the blanket. When she was truly asleep, her entire body relaxed, in a comfortable position. Her arms, would hang off the edge of the small couch.

Watching her pretend to sleep, Hotch gained greater insight into the woman that was Jennifer Jareau. When on display, she would control anything that may give her away. But, once she was comfortable, she was warm and engaging.

"You know, it's not nice to stare." She interrupted his thoughts and opened her eyes looking directly at him.

"How are you?" He asked

"Fine." He smiled inwardly at the response since it was exactly what he had told Rossi

"How are you really?"

"You know, I HATE all you profilers. You always assume you know what's going on. Why won't you just believe what I tell you? I'm FINE." She responded hotly, careful not to disturb Strauss but loudly enough that the rest of the team pretended not to listen in the lovers quarrel.

"JJ, I'm sorry." He tried to stop her tirade before it got too out of control. He remembered with Hayley when pregnancy hormones threw her into terrible mood swings and guessed that JJ would be much more formidable than Hayley ever had.

"Fine. I'm going to sleep." She said, turning away from him.

The rest of the plane ride was a peaceful journey, disturbed only occasionally by the groans of Prentiss and Morgan losing yet another hand to Reid. When the plane finally landed, the team retreated to their offices, grabbing the final paperwork and other essentials before heading home. JJ, on entering her office, noticed a beautiful vase of assorted flowers on her desk. Assuming they were from Hotch and reading the card that said _Jennifer, with love_, she smiled. Her anger toward Hotch forgotten, JJ finished up last minute things and poked her head in Hotch's office.

"You ready to go?" She asked sweetly.

"Yeah, let me finish this up...ok! Let's go." He said as the couple walked to the elevator.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you on the plane." She offered, hoping she didn't make their situation worse.

"No, it's fine. Don't apologize." He smiled

Driving to the home they soon would be sharing, neither person noticed the white sedan following close behind.

* * *

AN/let me know what you think!


	4. Moving On

AN/ Sorry, some people have mentioned the lack of romance. I just didn't want to rush things, but I can see how it seems a little odd. I hope to rectify the problem in this chapter. Let me know if you have any suggestions, I may or may not use them, but if I do I'll be sure to credit you with the great idea. Thanks to **phantomcsiwriter** for some suggestions and support! And thanks to everybody that reviewed, it's greatly appreciated.

Chapter 4--Moving On

"Hey, JJ, isn't that a new ipod?" Emily asked, packing the last of JJ's box titled 'Main Room Stuff' and pointing at the ipod hooked to the speakers on the counter. JJ's friends had adamantly banned Hotch from helping her pack tonight, saying that a 'girls' night' was in need. Three hours, two pizzas, and a case of beer (for Garcia and Prentiss) later, the women were _still_packing all of JJ's possessions. Since JJ was a little bit of an organizational maniac, packing took a lot longer than anyone had anticipated. Some of the furniture came with the apartment, and Rossi and Morgan had come by earlier to pick up her own large furniture, so the women lounged in the middle of the main room littered with boxes.

"Yeah, it's really weird, I don't remember dropping my other one, but when I went to use it, it just didn't work. Then, I got a cute present on my desk this morning with a new ipod." JJ explained.

"Ooo, from Hotchie?" Garcia squealed

"Hotchie?" JJ laughed at the new nickname, "yeah, I guess so, I've been getting flowers and stuff, but he never signs them." JJ explained dismissively

"So Jayje, who's better on a **date**? Our boss man, or the good doctor?" Garcia laughed as JJ blushed and took another piece of pizza from the counter. Just then, the doorbell rang, saving JJ from answering Garcia's prying question. Prentiss darted to the door in order to leave Garcia ample time to coerce an answer out of their sputtering friend. A large squeal surprised the two who scrambled to Prentiss's side.

_"To Jennifer, Soon we'll be together_" Emily read mockingly, holding the card high out of JJ's reach to prevent her from snatching it away. Prentiss was a good 6 inches taller than her blonde friend, and she thoroughly enjoyed taunting the younger woman.

"Oh, how precious" Garcia squealed.

"You're right, he doesn't sign it" Emily observed, "You know, it could be a deep fear of rejection, or--"

"Oh, would you stop profiling everything?" JJ teased pretending to be exasperated, "you two are just jealous since your love lives aren't exactly tabloid material" JJ countered her friends. Truth be told, every time she saw Aaron Hotchner her breath hitched in her throat. But, not wanting to give her friends any more opportunity to tease her, she tried to downplay the way her heart beat loudly in her chest every time he walked by. Not to mention the prospect of sharing a home with him was something that seemed to dominate her dreams of late.

Looking at the card, she said "Its corny" smiling to herself.

"Oh please Jayje, just 'cause you've got the romanticism of a toothpick doesn't mean that every body else does."

"So, JJ, you never answered Penelope's question. Who's the better date?" Prentiss reminded.

Flustered, and realizing there was no way her friends were going to let the subject drop, JJ sighed loudly "you both have heard how the date with Spence went. It wasn't _bad_. And, with Hotch we didn't really date, it just sort of happened...I don't know, its just kind of been weird lately."

At JJ's not so surprising revelation, the two friends were not about to let this subject go unanalyzed.

"So, wait, let me get this straight. You've had the hots for our good boss for years. Right?" Garcia asked

"Yeah, I guess so" JJ shyly responded

"Now Emily and I have _repeatedly _told you that the Hotch-man has the hots for you. Right?" Garcia asked again

"Yeah"

"Now you two are married, and are going to have a baby. Right?" Prentiss offered, causing JJ to remember the awkward kiss they shared at their wedding. Coupled with the massive life changes and the fact her family had been watching, it hadn't exactly been a romantic moment. In fact, their quick kiss had seemed to intensify the feeling of awkwardness between them.

"Yep"

"So what in the world is the problem?" Garcia practically shouted. "You love him, he loves you, you've already slept together _and you're married_, Jennifer! WHAT IN THE WORLD IS STOPPING YOU?"

"Did you know that no one ever calls me Jennifer except for my mother?" JJ asked, attempting to redirect the conversation, but seeing the look Garcia and Prentiss directed at her, she knew they wouldn't let her not answer.

"I just..." JJ uncharacteristically struggled for words, _why was this so weird?_

"I just don't want him doing all of this because he thinks he _has _to." JJ finally responded

"Oh please! I don't believe that for a second." Garcia responded ferociously, and began keeping track on her fingers, "He wouldn't have been so overprotective in the last case if he didn't care about you at all. He never would have bought you all this stuff if he didn't want to. He never would have asked you to move in with him so he could protect you if he didn't want to. He never would have _married_ you if he didn't want to. He never would have taken you back home, so that it wouldn't be as hard for you to tell your parents if he didn't want to. So, give it up Barbie, why aren't you all over him?"

"Because I'm scared." JJ finally admitted "I'm scared that once I start enjoying all of this then it will be all over. I'm not good at relationships, and if it doesn't work out with Hotch, then I don't know what I'll do." She finished honestly.

Both women looked at her with sympathy, until Garcia smiled and turned to give Prentiss an expecting look. Prentiss sighed grumpily and begrudgingly withdrew 20 from her wallet. JJ, confused, just continued to stare at her friends, not understanding their interchange after her soul searching confession.

Finally, realization dawned in JJ's eyes, "You bet on me?" she asked incredulously.

"Garcia just said that she could get you to admit that you were terrified of being in a relationship with Hotch. I said that there's no way you would actually admit that, or that maybe you didn't really like him." Prentiss confessed

"and I _won_" Garcia practically sang. Seeing that JJ was not amused, she offered "I would have let you in on the bet, but that wouldn't have been fair at all, now would it?" As all three women erupted in laughter

"Seriously JJ, you should just enjoy this. How often do you get to be married to a man you're in love with and especially a man who is also in love with you?" Prentiss pointed out after the laughter died down.

"Girl, you know we're behind you, but as much as I love you, you can be infuriating. Emily's right. Give it a chance, what'll it hurt?" Garcia encouraged. "Plus, if he hurts you, there's not a rope long enough to get him out of the hole I'd dig for him."

The night passed quickly, and by the time they finished packing all of JJ's belongings, it was early the next morning. Hours later, Hotch, Rossi, Morgan, and Reid all arrived at JJ's apartment clad in casual clothes to help with the heavy lifting. Entering the apartment they found boxes stacked neatly near the door in columns and rows.

"The boxes are in order of how to put them on the truck. Heaviest boxes on the floor and the height is sorted by room." JJ called from another room, the team smiled at JJ's compulsive organizing.

"Man, JJ, how much stuff do you own?" Morgan complained.

"Actually, did you know that the United States consumes one-sixth of the world's total output? This means that every person in America generally consumes--"

"Reid, just take a box" Rossi interrupted before Reid could finish yet another explanation recited from a book.

JJ emerged from the bedroom where she had been collecting last minute things and almost gasped when she saw Hotch. Clad in old jeans and a grey sweatshirt, he was more attractive then she had anticipated. She always thought he looked good in suits, but seeing him in regular clothes just made her heart race.

Walking up to him, she put her arm around his midsection and noticing his surprised reaction said softly, "Hey stranger."

"Hey" he smiled, glad at her unusual display of affection. It wasn't that he didn't notice that she was gorgeous, or that every time she walked in the room his hands started to sweat, he didn't want to mess things up. So, if she wanted the relationship to go slowly, he would go slowly. But it was moments like these, when they were alone and allowed the connection between them to flow freely, that he knew that they had something special. He wasn't naive. He knew the difference between running with emotions and being truly in love with someone. He wanted love with JJ, so he was willing to wait.

It was then that Hotch noticed the flowers on the counter.

"Nice flowers." He commented picking up another large box, ready for the exodus to the truck that would be moving JJ's stuff.

"I know." She responded shyly, standing on her tiptoes to give him a small kiss. Emboldened by her actions, the vase of flowers forgotten, Hotch drew her in, extending the kiss. Electricity flowed through both of them, as they were able to communicate the feelings that they had for each other. They hungrily kissed each other, as though making up for the years of attraction they shared and the time they had wasted. JJ's lips tingled with excitement as she moved her hand to the back of Hotch's head for support, his hand moving around her waist.

Whistling from the doorway caused the two to part. "Guess we solved that problem" Garcia laughed as she moved to take a lighter box down to the truck.

* * *

Hotch walked into his front room to find JJ curled up in the middle of the couch surfing through the TV channels. It had only been days since she had moved in with him. Everyday seemed more exciting than the previous. Each minute they spent apart seemed dull, lifeless, and boring. Sharing the drive to work, their hour at lunch, and the drive home didn't seem to be enough. It seemed they had an unending supply of topics to discuss, secrets to discover, and hopes to share. Although both he and JJ were private people, it seemed easy for him to share with her and their conversations never becoming uninteresting. They were able to joke as friends, but keep the passion that they had each felt in the kiss days before. Sometimes they felt like a real married couple, other than the thought that had crossed both of their minds '_is marriage supposed to be this much fun?'_

Looking down at the woman who had brought such excitement into his life, he teased "you actually watch this stuff?" JJ seemed the last person on earth he would expect to be a TV enthusiast.

"I'm looking for something good to watch." She said, not looking up at him.

Interested in the rare opportunity to profile, he sat down on the far side of the couch. Noticing his hesitation, she looked up at him questioningly, "What? I don't bite."

Smiling he closed some of the distance between him and JJ, watching for how long she paused before she flicked to the next channel. She tended to stop longer on reality shows, and interestingly enough, the Spanish channel. After a few moments of watching the characters interact in the foreign language, he couldn't help but tease, "I didn't know you spoke Spanish."

Quickly changing the channel, she sheepishly admitted glancing over at him, "I don't. I took it in high school and always wished I could speak it. I'm actually really envious of Emily. Did you know she can speak 4 languages? How cool!" She continued to search through the channels.

Observing JJ completely relaxed was not something he normally had the opportunity to do. Here, on the couch, curled up with a blanket her stomach beginning to show, she was almost an entirely different woman. Joking, cajoling, sarcastic, it was just fun to be around. It was different than when he was with Hayley. He had never really felt like her equal, always trying to do things to prove to her that he loved her, always trying to convince her she was happy. With JJ, he just felt _relaxed_. Although she still seemed to make his blood pressure rise every time she was near him. The mere distance between them seemed an impenetrable force field that he desperately wanted to destroy.

JJ's sharp intake of breath and small squeal that she attempted in vain to stifle interrupted his thoughts. Looking over to the TV, he found the source of her excitement.

"Oh no!" He moaned

"What?" She asked, turning up the volume

"I am not sitting here for hours watching an Animal Planet documentary on butterflies!" He declared, although she detected a hint of laughter in his words.

"Oh, what? You want to watch some coin collecting marathon, eh nerd boy?" She teased a sparkle in her eyes that Hotch had rarely seen before.

"Yeah, well coins are at least worth something," he countered. "Did you know that the design of the quarter has changed 15 different times including the statehood & territory quarters and a new program is proposed for the national parks?" He said excitedly.

"Wow, that's really interesting. Did you know that you sounded just like someone I know right there...who is that...oh I know, REID!" She teased

He mocked hurt and muttered "Well some rare quarters can be sold for 10,000. I don't know of any stupid butterfly that could make you that much money."

JJ laughed and tossed a pillow in his general direction. Hotch, unfortunately had just turned his head to look a white sedan parked across the street that he could see through the window, and the pillow hit him in the head. Exaggerating, he howled as she doubled over laughing.

"Look at that, I just took down tough Mr. FBI with a pillow!" She managed to choke out between giggles.

"You know what? I don't think its a good idea for you to make fun of me when it's my turn to pick dinner, I just might cook something." He threatened, JJ feigning mock horror at the suggestion. Every day they alternated preparing (or in his case, buying) dinner. JJ would inevitably cook something worthy of Martha Stewart. He really didn't know how she did it. Both would come home together from the office, he would change out of his suit and tie, and JJ would be putting the finishing touches on the one of the best meals he'd ever had. Every _other_ day, was a totally different story. Take out boxes from nearby vendors littered their garbage can, and was a source of constant teasing.

"I'm sorry." She attempted sincerity, unconsciously drawing closer to him and muttered "you big baby."

He stood menacingly, and without hesitation scooped her up and over his shoulder, the small of her back against his shoulder. His arm draped around her midsection steadying her on his broad shoulders. "If you're going to act like that, then I'll show you!" He laughed.

JJ squealed at the unexpected turn and attempted to fight back. She squirmed, kicked her legs and arms, but was laughing much too hard to actually make a difference. Hotch, spinning around the room was debating what to do next when his front door swung open. Hotch spun around, forgetting the blonde woman on his shoulder, to see his ex-wife and 4 year old son walking through the door.

"Aaron, I need you to watch Jack." Hayley marched into his home unannounced. "I had an emergency and I know you don't have a case so I--" She stopped as she spotted the couple dancing in the front room.

Hotch stood dumbfounded. Hayley almost _never _let him take Jack when he hadn't scheduled, and there couldn't be a more awkward time for her to interrupt...well, there could have been a more awkward time...there had been _several _more awkward times, but he was sure that this was towards the top of the list. JJ's small cough alerted him to her situation and he quickly helped her to the floor.

"Hayley, you remember JJ, she works with me." He said, quite unsure of how to explain his current situation to his exwife.

Hayley kindly looked at JJ, unsure of how to classify the younger woman's relationship to her ex-husband. "Yeah, how've you been JJ?" Hayley began to scrutinize JJ, and noticing the ring on her finger, "So, who's the lucky guy?"

JJ shocked looked up at Hotch, the unspoken message clearly sent _You never told her! _as Jack ran over to his dad and wrapped his arms around Hotch's legs.

Smiling, Hotch picked the boy up and sensitively attempted to gauge his ex-wife's reaction, "Uh, Hayley, JJ and I got married last week."

"You did what?" Hayley asked cooly

"I'm starting over again Hayley. JJ and I are having a baby." He said to the woman who seemed to be blowing smoke out her ears with anger.

"Did you hear that buddy? You're going to be a big brother!" Hotch tickled the young boy in his arms who laughed delightfully.

Seeing Hayley's not so encouraging look, he said to his son "Jack, why don't you go up to your room and show JJ your new truck?" The boy squealed and took JJ by the hand practically dragging her up the stairs to his bedroom.

"So were you cheating on me the entire time or was this just a recent occurance?" Hayley snapped angrily at him.

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, come on! The calls late at night? 'Sorry Hayley, another case?' Calls during birthdays, holidays, weekends? Yeah. Sure. You have no idea what I'm talking about." She angrily mocked him. He could see the fury in her eyes but was not about to let her have the upper hand in this argument.

"If I remember right it was you cheating on me. I never _once_ did anything with another individual that was inappropriate while we were married." He responded calmly only infuriating her further.

"Oh yeah right. A pretty woman you're around all the time and you didn't sleep with her until after the divorce! Whatever Aaron" She continued to rant, coming to a conclusion, "THAT'S WHY YOU COULDN'T LEAVE THE BAU!!" She practically shouted. "That slut!"

Being entirely fed up with her rant he calmly interrupted, "Hayley, this is no longer your home. Jack will always have a home here, but I will not have you insulting my wife in her home. Now get out. I will be more than happy to drop Jack off whenever you want him. But you cannot walk in here unannounced and then attack me in front of my wife. I will not allow it." He finished forcefully.

Too angry to speak, Hayley composed herself enough to say "Tomorrow. 3:00" and angrily bolted from what had been her home.

JJ gracefully descended the stairs moments after Hayley slammed the door in her dramatic exit. "You ok?" She offered

"Yeah, she's always been a little..._theatrical_. She'll be ok." He said rubbing his forehead.

"Well, I heard what you said. Thank you." She kissed him quickly, grateful that he would defend her even when she wasn't around.

"Hmm, that just reminded me of something important I was doing before she came, where were we?" Hotch smiled as he pulled her close and kissed her passionately.

"Daddy! JJ! Where'd you go?" The cry interrupted the two

Sighing, JJ pulled away from Hotch and began walking up to rejoin the child upstairs expecting Hotch to follow behind. Hotch grabbed her waist and hoisted her over his shoulder as before, careful to place her back and not her stomach on his shoulder. "Ahh, now I remember" He said laughingly as he climbed the stairs with the laughing woman flailing in the air.

* * *

"JJ are you coming? We're going to be late for work!" He called up the stairs. Truthfully there was no way they would be late because they were always first in the office, but he hated waiting forever in the foyer while she applied makeup or did whatever she did that took so long.

Finally coming down the stairs he caught a glimpse of the woman he had been sharing his home with for only days. The sight of her still made him tingle with excitement. "Why do you always get so upset? We beat the rest of the team by at least a half hour." She pointed out, grabbing her purse and cell phone.

The couple darted to the car, only for Hotch to find the front tire flat. "This can't be happening" He groaned.

"Oh, relax, I'll just call AAA, and get somebody to fix it." JJ comforted

"Hey. Yeah, I've got a flat tire. 3142 Blakely St. Thanks!" She said, ending the call.

"They said they'd be here in a second. Don't get all grouchy on me!" She teased tapping his butt softly as he bent over to inspect the tire.

"It doesn't look like there's a hole, it looks like somebody just let the air out of the tire." He said standing up.

"What does it matter? It'll be fine." Oh he was adorable when he was concentrating!

* * *

Jennifer looked beautiful in her business attire. He just couldn't stop thinking about her. All he had to do was let the air out of the tires while they were sleeping. _Idiot_he thought as the man with her inspected the tire. It was almost too easy. With all of his money, he could easily buy a cell phone intercepter. He intercepted her call and spoke lovingly to her pretending to be the car service company. She probably knew it was him, that he was only feet away from her out of their sight, she just couldn't let the other man know. He and Jennifer just needed a chance to be together. He stayed, watching her pretend to have affection for the other man, knowing that he couldn't just show up immediately--it would be suspicious. He also knew that she was just waiting for them to be together. Finally, after enough time had passed, he was able to drive up in a non-marked old truck that he had 'borrowed' from his father's company.

"Hey, you called for us?" He asked his lovely Jennifer.

"Yeah, our tire is flat and we've got to get to work" His Jennifer replied lovingly. He could tell by the grateful look in her eye that she felt for him everything he felt for her. Their mutual attraction seemed to radiate within him.

"Ok, let me get this fixed." He replied, brushing ever so closely to her.

The confused look she gave him was just for the other man's benefit. It wasn't their time yet, James knew that. Oh well, soon it would be.

"Yep. It's all good. Have a good day!" James grabbed the air pump and headed off in his truck parking just around the corner and reentering his parked white sedan so he could have a good view to watch them leave.

The man opened the door for her and she kissed him quickly before entering the car. Enfuriated James just clutched the wheel tightly and breathed deeply, remembering the exchange he had with her earlier. Laughing they pulled away while he kept a safe distance following behind.

* * *

AN/Let me know what you think!


	5. Discovery

AN/So to catch you up JJ & Hotch are married and expecting a baby, JJ's got a stalker, but hasn't realized it yet. Still don't own anything

* * *

It was easy for him to slide the janitor's keys and pass card out of the older man's pocket without him noticing. He could have just killed the older man, but he wasn't doing any harm to his Jennifer.

James had always been gifted at 'lifting' things off people, not that his father ever approved. He probably could have purchased keys from a disgruntled worker, but that would be too obvious. Now he could come and go when he pleased. At first, sitting outside the large building where she worked had been titillating. Now, however, he sat in boredom all day from the time she went into that office until she went home. James never did like to be bored.

He had to be careful, that imbecile she was always with would sometimes looked right at him. He had been careful, always switching vehicles, sneakingly discovering where they were going on cases so that he could be near her. It didn't take much to find out where they were headed. The first time he had just been afraid she was leaving without seeing him, so he had to follow. Now, it was just a chance for them to be together. His favorite memory with her was when she and the others had gone to St Louis. After all, that is what any loving boyfriend would do. That time, she bumped into him at the precinct and looked right into his eyes, the moment of passion between them shared. Now he followed every time they went, taking his private jet with him. It was exciting to think of him and Jennifer traveling the country together.

"Soon, Jennifer." He soothingly stroked the hairbrush he had taken from her hotel room in Phoenix. She was growing larger every day; but after she had the baby, they would be together. If he could wait that long. He was growing impatient.

* * *

"Hey, JJ, do you know what happened to my cell?" Hotch called up the stairs to JJ.

"NO" She angrily replied

Hotch grimaced. Ever since he had gotten back from his morning run JJ had been in a foul mood. This was going to be a long day.

"Well the display is broken, and I just fixed the stupid thing." Hotch angrily put the broken phone in his bag, hating technology and hoping he could get it fixed.

"Is that my problem?" JJ asked hotly scowling at Hotch as she descended the stairs, her baby bump much more prominent.

"Well, no, I just was wondering if you knew--"

"Hold on." She angrily rushed upstairs to the bathroom as Hotch smiled. She seemed to be progressing much faster than Hayley had with Jack, although it was several years ago, so maybe he just _thought_ that things were going faster.

The slamming of the bathroom door and her reappearance at the top of the stairs only confirmed his earlier thought. _This is going to be a long day._

* * *

Morgan smiled as the door to JJ's office slammed shut and Hotch walked bewildered through the bullpen to his office. "Rough morning?" Morgan offered as Hotch walked past his desk.

Hotch, shaking his head, replied exasperated "You know, I know all about pregnancy hormones. When Hayley was pregnant with Jack she was all over the place. JJ has been great the past couple of months, until this morning."

"Was it that she had to cancel the ultrasound again?" Reid asked. "Because most doctors are in disagreement whether an ultrasound in the first trimester is really a good idea. Statistically--" He stopped as Hotch held up his hand, motioning for him to stop.

"No, she was fine with that last night, plus we rescheduled for later today. As soon as we got up this morning, she was livid. I'm not sure if she's mad at me, or if she's just mad at the world." Hotch confessed with a smile, although he had to admit that JJ was even more attractive when she was angry. Her lips pressed in a tight line, her brow furrowed determinedly bringing out a cute wrinkle between her eyebrows.

"Well, man, what did you do?" Morgan offered bringing him out of his thoughts.

Hotch let out a large breath and replied honestly "I have no idea. She can't drink coffee, so I wait till I get in the office before I get a cup. She doesn't like the smell of eggs, so we eat cereal for breakfast. And this morning she had her favorite cereal combination--Raisin Bran and Peanut Butter. I just don't get it! Maybe I should try to talk to her."

"Talk to who?" Prentiss joined the conversation, depositing her files and coffee on her desk.

"JJ. She's angry." Prentiss nodded.

"Give her time to cool off. We all know how JJ can be when she's mad." She advised as the others, including Rossi who had walked up from behind, nodded in agreement. JJ may not look formidable, but they all knew not to mess with her when she's angry.

"Well, maybe I'll give her time to cool down, then I'll talk to her. I mean we're both responsible adults, right?" The rest of the team smiled warily.

"Um, Emily, maybe you should go check on her." Rossi suggested as the dark haired woman recoiled in shock.

"Me? Why me?" Emily asked

"Because you're her friend, and you're a woman, and--"

"you four are all afraid of her?" Emily interrupted Morgan teasingly.

Carefully knocking on the blonde's office door, she asked "JJ, are you ok?"

When silence followed, Emily sighed deeply and resolved to bravely check on her pregnant friend. Opening the door, she stepped briskly into JJ's office only to find the younger woman sobbing at her desk. Surprised, she moved over to envelop JJ in an awkward hug. Emily Prentiss was not one who was great at showing emotion, let alone comforting people.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Emily asked softly, treading carefully. It would not do to make JJ angry.

"He's been so nice to me. I just--" JJ sniffled, attempting to compose herself angrily wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Well, what happened?"

"It's stupid, really." JJ admitted sheepishly hating the emotional roller coaster she was now a part of.

"What?" Emily pried. Hotch and JJ had been nearly inseparable in the months since their shocking marriage, she couldn't help but wonder what (other than the pregnancy hormones) had caused JJ to flip out.

"I had a dream." JJ admitted, the tears subsiding.

"You had a dream?"

"Yeah, and in it Hotch said that the baby was ugly and then he told me that he slept with MY SISTER!" She finished angrily, the tears threatening to reappear.

"So, let me get this straight, you're mad at Hotch for what he did in a dream?" Emily asked, trying not to laugh

"Yeah, I guess so."

"So, you're mad at dream Hotch?" Emily asked again, no longer able to contain the giggles bubbling from her throat.

"I guess it's kind of stupid, huh." JJ laughed with Emily, her previous eruption forgotten.

"Don't worry, I won't tell Hotch, we'll just make him think you're calming down." Emily laughed and stood to exit as JJ's phone began to ring.

"Agent Jareau...hello? huh. That's weird" JJ looked down at the phone, not recognizing the number. As part of her job she had to answer calls from detectives all over the country. Assuming some disgruntled cop wasn't able to wait for her to answer the phone and grateful she didn't have to talk to them, she began sifting through the mounds of cases littering her desk.

"Thanks Em" JJ called after Emily, who smiled and waved her off before retreating back to the bullpen.

"Well, I didn't hear any guns go off, so I assume she didn't shoot you." Rossi pointed out as Emily reentered the bullpen to find all four men gathered around her desk.

"Did she say what he did?" Reid asked eagerly.

"Yeah. Hotch you could probably go talk to her whenever. I think she's ok" Emily fought desperately the smile that threatened to divulge JJ's secret.

Hotch turned to his office, intent on getting as much paperwork done as he could before they left for the first ultrasound. However he couldn't help but think about the fuming woman down the hall. He always hated it when Hayley was mad at him, and the thought of JJ being upset with him was unsettling.

Grateful for his profession, he remembered how excited she became every time he noticed the new bouquet of flowers on the kitchen table. He rarely went into her office, but noticed once that it contained fresh flowers. Deciding that her flower arranging skill must be some hobby that stemmed from growing up in a small town, he placed an order to the nearest florist. _This will make her day_ he thought.

* * *

Aaron Hotchner never claimed to understand women. But right now he was down right baffled. He knew the flowers had been delivered to her office, yet she seemed more upset than she had been earlier. Now they as they sat in the examining room of her Obstetrician, she refused to even look at him.

"JJ, will you please tell me what's wrong."

"No."

Laughing softly at her stubborn refusal he pointed out, "You can't stay mad at me forever."

"Yes I can." She stated definitely.

Soon the young doctor who was a long-time friend of JJ's entered the room. "JJ, I haven't seen you in AGES! Wow! You've gotten big quickly, let's look over these stats really quick...yep, everything looks to be normal."

"How's the FBI?" Dr. Stephanie Ashley asked.

"Fine." JJ responded angrily moving over to lay on the examining table.

Dr. Ashley simply raised her eyebrows at Hotch, "Well, I can see that the hormones are in full effect," and before JJ could retort added "now do you two want to see your baby?"

Applying the cool gel and placing the orb over JJ's stomach Dr. Ashley explained to Hotch, "We sometimes use the new ultrasounds, but that finicky United States Government Health Care Plan says we do this one first and we can do the other kind when the baby is bigger." She finished turning on the monitor for all to see.

"Oh, do you hear that? That is the baby's heartbeat." Dr. Ashley smiled as tears welled up in JJ's eyes at the steady sound. "And...yep...just what I thought" the sound stopped for a moment as Dr. Ashley moved the orb but then sound quickly returned, "that's the other baby's heartbeat."

"Excuse me?" Hotch asked quietly.

"Here, you can see for yourself," The doctor pointed at the black splotches on the monitor, "See. Here's one baby, and then right...THERE! There's the other baby. Both look to be average sized..." Dr. Ashley continued to take measurements and explain the health of the baby as Hotch gripped JJ's hand excitedly.

"Well," she said, concluding the ultrasound "it looks like you two have a couple of healthy babies. Congratulations! Here are some pamphlets about what to expect with multiples, and you two have an excellent day!" Dr. Ashley walked the proud parents back to the waiting room.

JJ's previous mood forgotten she hungrily grabbed Hotch's hand as they walked out of the office.

JJ examining the ultrasound pictures asked Hotch, "Ok, so this is the first baby, and...this is the other?"

"Yep, look right there is it's nose and ear, and I'm not quite sure what that is."

Once they entered the car and began the drive home, he felt it was safe to ask about her earlier moods. "JJ, why were you so upset with me? How can I help you?"

She sighed loudly, "Well, I was mad at you this morning because you said the baby was ugly and that you slept with Jessie." She explained as though it were completely rational.

"What! I never said that! When did I say that?" He asked increduosly.

"Well, I had a dream last night and--" She was cut off by his loud laughter.

"You're mad at me for something that I had no control over? Something you _dreamed up?_" He managed to spurt out, trying to wipe the tears from his eyes so that he could continue to watch the road.

"Well," She defended, beginning to get angry, "you keep sending me all this stuff. That's what made me upset this afternoon. I mean I have probably a dozen bouquets of flowers from you. Where am I supposed to put them all? You keep giving me stuff like a new ipod...it just makes me feel like you're paying me to be in this relationship! I don't need flowers from you every day. They were nice at first, but it's getting a little weird. And how you never sign them? You signed it today, but every other time you just leave it blank. Emily said you might be afraid of rejection." She continued to rant but he was quickly drawn from his laughter by her admission.

"Wait," he interrupted, "you've been getting this stuff for how long?" He asked seriously

"Well, since our first case after we were married. Flowers. The ipod." She responded, her anger subsided. "Wait. They weren't from you?"

"No." He responded shortly, his profiling gears turning. If she had been getting gifts for months, it sounded very much like a stalker.

"You didn't even notice! Some creep is sending your WIFE gifts and YOU DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE?" She yelled, although he knew that it was way more out of fear than any anger towards him.

"Look JJ, it'll be fine." He attempted to calm her, remembering the doctors warning to keep her from having too much stress. "We'll stay at my brother's tonight, just to be safe. Tonight you can tell me everything and tomorrow we'll brief the team. Ok?" He asked reassuringly.

"Ok. But do me a favor?" He nodded quickly "Let's talk about all of this tomorrow. I want to talk about something happy tonight. Like our little babies!" She pleaded, trying to mask the fear in her voice.

"Definitely" He responded quietly keeping his eyes on the road. He would do anything to protect her.

A small smile tugged at the corner of his lips, ad he couldn't help but add "I told you you couldn't be mad at me forever."

* * *

AN/ I had a tough time writing this chapter. Let me know what you think! I have a plan, but I'm more than open to ideas. Oh, I've never been to an ultrasound, so I really don't know what that's like I just kind of made it up, so sorry if it's inconsistent.


	6. In the House

It had been a long night, Jennifer Jareau thought to herself as she stepped into the shower at her home. Seeing the tiny lives growing inside her for the first time was absolutely incredible. She didn't think there had been a time in her life when she had felt happier. Luckily Sean had been out of town, allowing Hotch & JJ to feel safe that at least the stalker wouldn't find them there.

Turning the faucet to allow the hot water to pound on her tense upper back muscles, she felt completely relaxed--forgetting for just a moment that some person had been following her for months. She wasn't going to let him change the way she lived her life. No, she would go on as normal.

But, last night had been terrible, her belly growing just large enough to get in the way of her being comfortable in any position as she tried to sleep nestled in the crook of Hotch's arms. Fears and doubts about the gifts she had been recieving and concerns over the growing lives inside her had troubled her dreams.

Relaxing in the hot shower had never felt so good. The stress of the past couple of days seemed to wash away with the soap and hot water. Finally finishing she reached for the towel that she specifically remembered leaving on the hook closest to the open shower door. Feeling around for a moment, she poked her head out, only to find her towel placed neatly on the vanity. Shuddering oddly, she exited the shower and rushed to her towel, the feeling of self-control slipping through her fingers.

She quickly dressed and rushed from her brother-in-law's small bathroom to find Hotch reading the paper as he ate breakfast.

"Hotch, he was here."

"What do you mean?" Hotch asked discarding the now unimportant paper.

"Hotch. My towel. I know I didn't put it there." She stuttered almost hysterically. He noticed the way she was fighting not to tremble.

"JJ, What do you mean?" As he placed his arms protectively around the trembling woman.

"Hotch, _he was here_. I got out of the shower, and my towel was in a different place. _He was in the bathroom!_" She pleaded looking up at him, hoping he would understand.

"Let's go. Now!" Realization dawning, Hotch's main focus was to get them out of the apartment. They may be two seasoned FBI agents, but with JJ a little over four months pregnant, he wasn't about to take any chances. _Especially _with an unsub that had managed to sneak into the apartment unnoticed.

* * *

AN/I know, it's a super short chapter, but I was struggling a little bit with this story. So, send me a message or review if you've got any ideas or would like to see something, or not. Let me know what you think!


	7. The team

Derek Morgan was unusually pleased with himself. He would never consider himself a prideful person, but today, he was just on his game. Waking up a half hour early for no reason, feeling totally refreshed, he had decided to make himself an unusually large breakfast and be a little early to work today.

_That'll surprise everybody. I don't remember the last time I was early to work._ He thought smugly.

Softly humming a song to himself, he made his way to the mounds of files on his desk. _So much for a great morning._ He thought sarcastically.

To be honest, Derek Morgan wasn't sure if he had _ever_ been the first one in to work. Hoping Garcia would come in soon so that he could softly surprise her, he waited as he finished up some of the small consults that JJ had left for him.

He was interrupted by JJ and Hotch darting to Hotch's office. _Hmm, that's odd._

"Hey, where's the fire?" Morgan chuckled as the two startled FBI agents turned to him.

"Morgan, you're the expert on obsessional crimes. JJ--"Hotch started, rushing over to his desk.

"No, Hotch. It's not a big deal. I think you're overreacting. I overreacted. We don't need to tell everybody."

"_Don't need to tell everybody?"_Hotch looked at her increduously. "Some person has been sending you gifts for months. I have 'suddenly' had several technological devices _mysteriously_ break or be destroyed. You have also had similar devices break, but they are always replaced. This morning you thought someone moved your towel. I don't think I am overreacting at all. I think we need to bring the team in on this. Make this our next case." Hotch finished definitely.

"Hotch, we've got way more pressing cases than some guy following me around. Morgan can help, I'd just really like to keep this private." JJ pleaded.

Morgan was baffled. "What kind of gifts have you been getting, JJ?"

"Flowers. An ipod. A new cellphone. Suff like that." JJ said uncomfortably.

"I agree with Hotch. We need to bring everybody in on this. JJ, why didn't you say something sooner?"

"Umm, I kind of thought they were from Hotch. He never signed his name. Look, can we not tell everybody? I really don't think its a big deal."

"Don't think what's a big deal?" Emily asked coming up from behind Hotch and JJ, surprised that Morgan was at the office so early.

"JJ's got a stalker." Morgan said unsensitively

Emily's startled expression would have been funny under different circumstances. "What's going on?"

"You know all of that stuff in my office? It's not from Hotch." JJ explained as Emily's eyes grew large.

"I think we need to bring the full team on this. But JJ says we're overreacting." Hotch explained

"Why are you overreacting?" Spencer Reid joined the group, his ever present coffee laid on his desk as he took off his saddlebag.

"Some guy has been giving JJ stuff for months." Emily explained.

"What are you doing here so early? Normally you don't show up for another 23 minutes." Reid looked at Morgan questioningly.

"Umm, I kind of think there are more important things to worry about than why I'm here 23 minutes early." Morgan mocked

"Hey, why didn't I get an invite to this party?" Garcia asked as she walked through the bullpen to her office.

"FINE! We might as well tell the whole team, everybody already knows. Where is Rossi?" JJ asked grumpily

"Who's asking?" Rossi walked through the doors carrying a large stack of files and a cup of coffee.

"Briefing in 5." JJ said shortly cutting off discussion from the group.

* * *

James was on an all time high. Jennifer had been mere feet...no, inches away from him. The smell of her shampoo permeated his nostrils. It had been easy for him to follow them, to get up to the roof of the building, and then sneak in through the fire escape. Even though it was a loft apartment, it wasn't that hard for him to hide beneath the ledge once she was out of the shower. He couldn't help himself, the smell of her towel was too much for him to handle. The towel was hanging there... so unkempt. He compulsively folded it, knowing that she would feel his presence in the room. He couldn't spend to long with her, the other man would get jealous. Their relationship was definitely moving on to the next level.

Now it was time for him to meet her family.

* * *

Aaron Hotchner was beside himself. Her father had really only asked one thing from him. To protect her. That's all he had to do. Here he was, an FBI agent, and he couldn't even protect her. _I didn't even notice._ He was a profiler. He should have been able to see what was going on, but he missed it. He, Aaron Hotchner, completely missed it. Sitting alone in his office, supposedly answering calls before their briefing, he couldn't think of much else. _I missed it!_

The team quickly gathered in the conference room to a table full of stuffed animals, several boquets of flowers, and more than a dozen cards evenly spaced. As they took their seats, JJ began.

"I really don't think this is deserving of the entire team, but it seems I've been _overruled_." She said smiling. Had she not been in a room full of profilers, one would think that she thought this was just a little annoyance. Her friends, however, saw right through her--seeing how scared she really was.

"I first started receiving gifts shortly after the first case after Hotch and I got married. First it was flowers, then it became more expensive gifts--an ipod, new cell phone--all after my original stuff got broken. I've noticed that my chair is often at a different level, I just thought that the cleaning crew mixed it up every night. Last night, I realized Hotch wasn't sending me this stuff" JJ explained

"We decided to crash at Sean's house in DC. He has a loft apartment, it was early and he was out of town so I thought we could get in and out without being seen." Hotch explained

"JJ, this is really serious. It seems that he's escallating, but--" Morgan's inquisitory statement was cut off by Rossi, who prodded.

"What else JJ?"

"It's stupid, really." She said dismissively, and then with a large sigh continued, "this morning I was in the bathroom, and someone moved my towel." Upon seeing the doubtful looks from her colleagues she continued, "Look. I put my towel in the same place _every _morning. Even when I'm in a different place, I always leave it on the hook or shelf closest to the bathroom door. _Always._ This morning, it was folded up on the vanity after my shower. I _know _I didn't put it there."

"It seems like a rapid escallation, I agree with Morgan. Have you noticed anything else weird?" Reid looked to Hotch and JJ. "Like have your gas tanks been more empty than they should, felt like someone is watching you, something like that?" He asked.

"There's been a white sedan parked across our street several times." Hotch said with a flash of inspiration.

"We've had flat tires more than normal, but I've always called AAA."

"Garcia, go check with AAA and see if they've recieved any calls from us." Hotch commanded.

"Right on it bossman." Garcia began typing furiously on her laptop. "It says that you guys have been members since 2004, and....zilch. Nothing. They haven't gotten anything from you since JJ got a flat tire in Roanoke."

"He probably just intercepted the calls" Emily pointed out, "you can do that with simple equipment from Radio Shack, right Garcia?"

"Rightie-oh Miss Smartie Pants, I can obviously do a better job, but it would certainly serve your purpose."

"Morgan, what do we know about this type of Unsub?" Rossi asked

"Well, we'd usually classify this type of Unsub as a preferencial offender. They usually have two types the most common is an unsub with low birth status who looks up to someone, usually of a higher status, that he sees as loving him. What we need to watch out for is the opportunist. This would be an unsub who knows that he isn't rational, but is attempting to convince himself otherwise. With an opportunistic unsub, he is usually upper class and would have the means to carry out just about anything. He would see the object of his affection as his equal and will whatever necessary to get them together." Morgan explained.

Seeing the blood rush from JJ's face, Emily quickly responded, "JJ, maybe you should go wait in your office. We may need you to see if anything's been disturbed." JJ seemed to weigh her options unsurly.

"Yeah, JJ, we need you to go into your office, see if there is anything else that we've missed." Morgan suggested.

"Hotch, you should go with her." Rossi said definitely, and upon seeing Hotch's confused glare added "you are too invested. Plus, with the amount of gifts this guy has sent, we don't know what type of access he has to her. She shouldn't be left alone." He finished definitely.

* * *

"Hi Mrs. Jareau, I think you've been expecting me." James smiled as Amy Jareau invited him in.


	8. Gifts

"Ok, Mrs. Jareau, I think we've got that all fixed." James smiled as he walked back to the Direct TV Van he had 'borrowed.' All he had to do was get on the roof late at night and mess up their satellite signal. Then, he had just waited for them to call Direct TV for support. All he had to do was intercept the call and schedule a time to be "right out to help."

He had been able to meet Jennifer's family! They had loved him! He could tell from the pictures on the mantle and around the house that they were simple people, but the way her mother smiled at him, he knew. He knew that her mother knew of his love for Jennifer. He knew she wanted him to take some of Jennifer's pictures from the album--something to remind him of their love--she just couldn't say it.

As he said goodbye, his eyes darted to a picture of his Jennifer with that _other_ man. He fought the hatred that welled within him. Soon that man would pay for stealing his Jennifer and his child.

* * *

"JJ, how are you doing?" Hotch asked gently. They were in her office, as she buried herself in work before she was able to process everything that was happening around her. She refused to look at him as she continued to pour through case files.

"Fine." She finally responded

"Come on, after all we've been through, I think I deserve more than a 'fine.'" On seeing her refusal to respond, he continued, "Ok, how're the babies?"

"Fine." She answered shortly

"JJ, come on, this is a stressful situation. We _need_ to talk this through."

Her eyes darkened quickly, "We _need _to talk this through? Ok, fine, how's this? I'm scared to death that some maniac is going to kidnap me and kill my babies. Then I'm worried that everybody will think that I can't do my job. What makes matters worse is that I know that if some crazy person is after me, then _you_might be in danger. And on top of all of that the only thing that even sounds remotely comforting is a cup of hot chocolate and a tunafish sandwich." She finished, her eyes glistening with tears that were threatening to fall.

He quickly enveloped her in a hug.

"Hey, we're going to be fine. I promise. I won't let anything bad happen to you." He promised, more to himself than to her.

"Why don't we get that sandwich and hot chocolate?" He asked as her face broke out into a large smile.

* * *

"Ok, what do we have so far?" Rossi asked taking the lead. This case was personal for all of them, and they wanted to catch this guy before he came close to doing anything that resembled hurting a member of the team.

"Well he's definitely an opportunistic preferential offender. Based on the gifts he's sent, he has the means to do whatever he needs to do to get close to her." Morgan explained.

"He's obviously creating control and meaning in a life where he feels as though he has none. We're likely looking for an upper class guy, has a job in a family business." Reid offered.

"We should get Garcia to cross check with guys with a criminal record. This guy likely hasn't been busted for anything big, but probably has a criminal record---something like petty theft or breaking and entering." Emily added.

"Ok, we'll get Garcia on that, we're going to need to--" They were interrupted by a scream coming from JJ's office.

The team darted into JJ's office to find Hotch with his arm protectively draped around JJ as they intently studied some large framed sheet of paper.

"JJ, what is it?" Rossi asked

"How did he get these?" She muttered to no one in particular.

Snatching the frame from her grasp, Dave held it so the other profiler's in the room could get a good look. "JJ, these are all pictures of you." Emily said, almost unnecessarily. The frame contained a collage of pictures, every one of JJ. There were pictures of JJ eating lunch, working at the office, getting out of the shower. There were pictures from her childhood, from high school, and from college. There were even pictures of her on cases, walking in St. Louis, holding a press conference in Milwaukee, and talking with a female police officer in Boston. Literally hundreds of pictures had been glued together, making a beautiful, yet terrifying piece of art.

"_How did he get these?_" She reiterated.

"How did it come? Was it just here on the desk?" Morgan asked as Hotch nodded sternly, obviously upset at the level of access that this unsub seemed to possess.

"It seems as though it was hand delivered. I'll go check on Garcia to run recognition software on anybody that came into JJ's office." Reid ran quickly out of the room.

"JJ, it's ok." Hotch comforted the quivering woman in his arms, "All of this stress can't be good for the babies. Why don't we go home and you can get some rest."

"NO! I am not going anywhere. This is the safest place I know, and he got to me here. How am I supposed to be safe somewhere else?" She pointed out defiantly.

"She's right. The BAU is probably the safest place right now. We send her into the open, we're asking for him to do something. If she stays here he has to come to us." Rossi surprised everyone by agreeing with JJ.

Seeing the wisdom in Rossi's plan, Hotch quickly agreed. "Ok, fine." then turning to JJ he added, "But I don't want you going anywhere alone. If this guy was able to leave something in your office, then we don't know what he can do or what he knows."

JJ nodded as she shifted uncomfortably. The long night before was starting to catch up with her, and the sudden adrenaline rush was wearing off, leaving her utterly exhausted. Seeing the change in the young blonde, Emily suggested "JJ, why don't you take a nap in Hotch's office. We can all watch it from there while we work and make sure you're safe." She added, hoping to allow her friend time to rest.

Hotch agreed and insisted that JJ sleep in his office. JJ adamantly denied any form of exhaustion, although moments after laying down on his small office couch she drifted quickly to sleep.

"Hey, Prentiss, let me know if anything changes. I'm going to run home and grab some of JJ's pillows and stuff to make her more comfortable. Don't let her out of your sight!" He warned as he left the bullpen.

* * *

Garcia was frantically looking through surveillance footage of JJ's office, attempting to identify the creep of the week. Fingers flying over the keypad, she could only catch a small glance of the man that had delivered the collage. The man the team had determined to be the unsub. But, this creep was careful. Somehow he knew where the cameras were, and only a small glance of his face had been captured. Not one to readily admit defeat, Garcia would spend hours contorting and editing the small image that was captured. Looking ever so carefully, she identified a small reflection. "Look who's laughing now!" She smiled as she began to run the reflected image.

* * *

Hotch was just about to exit his car from picking up essentials for JJ. He knew she had her ready bag, but he didn't want to see her uncomfortable. Lately, the only thing that could help her get a good night's sleep was to have extra pillows supporting her back and belly. Hotch's solution had been to buy more pillows, but (according to JJ) not all pillows were created equally. She had her specific 'belly pillow' and 'back pillow' and whatever else. He knew that she would feel a lot more comfortable if there were things surrounding her that reminded her of being relaxed.

Carrying the pillows and other small nick-knacks out of the car, he never saw James step behind him. He never saw James lift the heavy wooden bat in his hand. No. The next thing Aaron Hotchner saw was blackness.


	9. The Plan

**_AN/Sorry, I kind of got stuck for a little while._**

Aaron Hotchner groaned as he awoke in a dark room. _What just happened?_ He asked himself as he attempted to blink away the throbbing in the back of his head. The last thing he remembered was picking up the box of stuff for JJ, and then...blackness.

Looking down at his restrained limbs, he saw that he was duct taped to a small chair in the center of a dark room. It seemed to be a basement, or a large closet with no windows.

_How am I going to get out of here?  
_

Suddenly, the door burst open and light flooded the room. Hotch's head ached as his eyes attempted to adjust to the sudden change of light. "You're awake."

* * *

"Where is Hotch?" Rossi asked Emily angrily, staring at the sleeping woman in Hotch's office.

"He said that he'd be right back, that was three hours ago. I've tried his cell but he's not picking up." Emily said, attempting not to sound worried.

"Where did he go?" Rossi demanded

"He said he had to go home. I don't think it should have taken this long." Emily's worry seeped into her voice.

"I saw his car in the parking lot when I went down to grab everybody coffee." Reid added

"Get Garcia to trace his cell, we need to get him back here before she wakes up." Emily nodded and scrambled into Garcia's office.

"Hey, can you run a trace on Hotch's cell? We can't seem to find him."

"Your wish is my command" Garcia typed furiously for a few seconds before she finished. "That's weird. He's got his phone off. His last location was 421 S 1200 W, but they live on the opposite side of town."

Emily darted to the room to find Rossi, Reid and Morgan in the Conference Room. "The unsub has Hotch."

"How do you know?" Morgan asked rising from his chair.

"He left three hours ago, his phone is now off and it's last location was on the other side of town from where they live. What do you think happened?"

"Get Garcia to check surveillance tapes. He probably grabbed Hotch from right downstairs." Rossi said angrily. The profilers worked furiously to determine the unsub behind all of this mess.

* * *

James was seething. This man had the audacity to even look him in the eye! Did he know what Jennifer felt for him? His rage boiled as he attempted to show the man his place in this world.

"She loves _me_ you know." James stated simply and was infuriated as the man sat there smirking.

"Who loves you?" Hotch chuckled, antagonizing the unsub as much as possible. If he could just buy time....

"Jennifer."

"She doesn't even know who you are. You are a nobody. You fear rejection and failure in this world, so you've created a nice little fantasy for yourself to live in. But you know it's wrong. You know it's not right. JJ doesn't even know who you are." Hotch finished as James punched him repeatedly in the abdomen.

"Her name is _Jennifer!_" The unsub insisted, punching Hotch in the face.

Hotch could taste the blood in his mouth. This type of pain--this is what Aaron Hotchner was good at dealing with. Sitting and waiting for something to happen, that was torturous. Someone beating the snot out of you...well, he had experienced that plenty of times, and though never enjoyable, Hotch knew he was giving the team time to find him.

* * *

"Where's Hotch?" JJ asked entering the room as the other eight eyes looked up at her guiltily. A knot twisted in her stomach. Hotch had promised everything would be ok, but the reality of the situation began to wear on her. How strange that it had only been a couple of days before that she was happy. That seemed like an eternity ago.

"JJ, um, Hotch is--" Morgan started but was interrupted by JJ's simple conclusion.

"He's missing isn't he?"

The team silently affirmed her question by refusing to look her in the eye.

"What are we going to do?" JJ asked sadly

"We'll get him JJ, don't worry." Emily encouraged.

"You know, the unsub looks at JJ as his equal, he looks at her as though she is perfect. Maybe if we get her to do a press conference where he can see her, she can give him a message. If we can convince him that Hotch isn't a threat, we should be able to trick him into coming into a disclosed location." Reid said thoughtfully.

"No." Morgan answered quickly. "We don't know what this guy will do. He could see JJ's plea as a way to get Hotch back and spook enough to kill him."

JJ's face blanched at the suggestion, what would their babies do without a father? She couldn't let that happen. As stressful and frightening as these past days were, there was no way she was going to let this psycho get the best of her.

"I want to do it." JJ spoke up firmly as the others continued to argue.

"We could set up a rendevous. He'll call into the tip line, trying to get a hold of JJ. He probably won't even think that she'll come in with backup. He thinks she's in love with him." Reid offered, trying to convince the others that this was the best plan of action.

"No. There has to be another way." Morgan insisted.

"It could give us just enough time to get Hotch out of there and grab the Unsub." Rossi pointed out, seriously considering Reid's suggestion.

"No." Morgan continued to disagree.

"Look. This is our best chance. We've been at this for hours. Hotch doesn't have a ton of time before the unsub will get violent. You've seen what we've got on this jerk---nothing!" Rossi firmly decided. "Do the press conference."

* * *

Hotch was reeling. The unsub had apparently tired of using him as a personal punching bag. Assessing his injuries as much as possible he thought that his ribs may be cracked or broken. His nose was definitely broken. He was going to have some nasty bruising.

_If I get out of here alive. _What would the team say when they found his body? Would Hayley come to his funeral? It was absurd, he knew, but as much as his exwife hated him, would she be sad if he were gone? He knew JJ would be devestated, but she would move on. His one regret was that his children wouldn't ever know their father.

_No, don't think like that!_ He commanded himself angrily. He was supposed to protect JJ, and what did he do? He gets kidnapped by an unsub AT THE FBI! How could he have been so stupid? Here he had promised to protect her and keep anything from happening to the babies growing inside her, and he got kidnapped! How was he supposed to protect her now?

Shaking his head as though to dispell those thoughts, Hotch attempted to devise a way out of this situation. Now was not a time for pity or worry. Now was a time for him to survive. Although, sitting strapped to a chair in a cold dark room, Hotch could only think of one thing. _JJ, I'm so sorry._

* * *

Moments later JJ was in front of the dozens of reporters with her prepared speech and notes. Her knees were trembling, but she refused to let the nerves get to her. Her obvious baby bump seemed to signal to the reporters that they could walk all over her, but she wouldn't have it. The team watched in amazement as she presented her monologue to the Unsub, using the press as an unwitting pawn.

"I am SSA Jennifer Jareau. A little over three hours ago a federal agent was abducted. Here at the FBI, we ask--I ask--_please don't hurt him."_ She pleaded with the unsub, hoping the press didn't notcie the way she directed all of her comments to the Unsub. Not that it really mattered now. This show wasn't for them. It was for him.

She continued, ignoring the questions that the reporters were attempting to ask, "I have set up a tip hotline, the number will be showing at the bottom of your screens. I, Agent Jennifer Jareau, will be heading this investigation--so all callers will speak with me." She finished finally looking directly at the camera. Hopefully it wouldn't take long for the unsub to respond.

* * *

"I'VE GOT SOMETHING!" Garcia shouted, running from her office into the conference room.

"What is it baby girl?" Morgan asked quickly.

"The unsub, his name is James Wallace. He's the son of Jordan Wallace, the multimillionaire. James has a rap sheet a mile long, that somehow his daddy's been able to keep under wraps. It wasn't easy, but all of the travel items coincide--his private plane has been at every case for the last 4 months. I found them!" Garcia's explained excitedly as Morgan, Emily and Reid stood and rushed out of the room.

"Mama, do you have an address?" Morgan called out, turning around to face her as he grabbed his hardware at his desk and she stood in the doorway of the conference room.

"You bet your bottom dollar I do!"

"Wait!" Rossi called from behind Garcia. "We need to wait until this guy calls. We can't just go in, we might spook him. One thing is for sure, if he even gets a hint that something isn't right he'll kill Hotch." As if on cue the phone for the tip line began to ring. JJ nervously answered it, placing it on speaker so that the team could hear, but speaking into the phone so that the other side couldn't hear him.

"Hello, this is SSA Jennifer Jareau. Who is this?"

_"You asked for me." _Came the short reply.

JJ looked questioningly at the team before responding "James?"

_"I knew you loved me. I will do what you ask. I will not hurt the man, but we need to be together."_

"James, if you give me Aaron, we can be together. Where are you?" She asked, slightly disturbed at talking to the man who had been stalking her for months. If she had any say this man would go away for a long time. But, he wasn't important right now. If he killed Hotch---well, she didn't think she could handle that.

_"1212 S Battle St. I will only give him to you."_ Garcia's earlier address was confirmed as James disconnected the call.

"Let's go!" Morgan almost yelled, pushing the team along.

"JJ, I don't know if you should--" Rossi attempted to dissuade the blonde from joining them but was cut off by her simple reply.

"I'm doing this."

* * *

Hotch was once again blinded by the light eminating from the doorway as the unsub--James--entered the room.

"She's coming!" He taunted gleefully, punching Hotch once more in the chest, causing him to wince in pain.

Hotch's head drooped in exhaustion. Surely she wouldn't risk her life and the lives of their children for him--would she?

"She told me not to hurt you." James spat out angrily, and just as quickly began to reminisce of his conversation with JJ, "but she's coming!"

**_AN/Please review! Thanks!_**


	10. Saving Hotch

**_AN/ Sorry this took so long to update. I kind of lost track with this story. I think there will be one or two chapters after this one, but I haven't forgotten about it--it just took a while._**

He saw her enter through the large warehouse doors. He felt her before he saw her, their mutual attraction seemed to notify him the moment that she got near. He could feel of her love for him, and her compassion for others if she were willing to try to protect this _man_ that sat bound to the chair next to him.

"Jennifer. You came." He said lovingly, feeling her searching gaze scan the area for threats to their relationship. James quickly pressed a large button before approaching the woman of his affection.

"James, let Aaron go." JJ addressed him, trying to keep the fear out of her voice. Hotch looked like he was barely conscious. James was holding a gun and waving it in Hotch's direction. The team was listening to everything they said, and had SWAT waiting for her signal to storm the building.

"You just called him Aaron." James said angrily. Surely she couldn't _love_ this idiot. She was in love with him! He was supposed to live with her for the rest of their lives, her every wish being to make him happy.

"Aaron isn't important. We're together, let him go." She lied, fearing that if SWAT entered now James might shoot Hotch who seemed to be bleeding heavily from a cut above his eye that seemed to drip and the only evidence he was still alive was the steady rising and falling of his chest.

"Prove it." JJ looked at him dumbfounded as he circled to come closer, putting his arm protectively around her and handing her a gun that he had pulled from the back of his pants.

JJ frantically thought for a reason to defy the unsub that he would believe. "James, I can't kill someone." She finally settled on.

His face softened slightly as he withdrew his arm and stood to face her, countering "But you killed Jason Battle, that must have been hard for you since you are such a wonderful woman."

"He was threatening my family." JJ said, unsure as to what she could do to talk down the unsub. Once assessing that James was safely distracted and away from Hotch she whispered into her mic "GO!"

When there was no grand SWAT entrance, she looked over at James, surprised to see him smile at her.

"Jennifer. I always knew you were resourceful. I knew that your friends wouldn't let us be alone, but we are _meant_ to be together. I jammed the signals so that you wouldn't have to leave the happiness that we share together. There's no way for them to steal our happiness from us."

His eyes held a murderous glare that terrified her, and knowing that the team couldn't hear her made her feel even more scared. "James, why don't you let Aaron go, and then we can talk alone." She suggested finally as Hotch moaned and stirred.

"_NO!_ I have proved my love for you! I met your mother, I did it for _you!_" He shouted at her, coming ever closer but keeping the gun trained on Hotch who seemed to be waking.

"JJ?"

"James, we are going to be together, I promise. We just need to let Aaron go." She could feel tears beginning to well up in her eyes as he put his arm around her held her close to him.

"No! He needs to die. Once he's gone, no one will find you. Your ties to them will be gone, and we can live happily and raise our children." She shuddered as he patted her growing baby bump.

"James. No. We need a fresh start. Let him go, and it will all be ok, we'll be together if you just let him go." She pleaded, knowing her FBI training was failing as her emotions seemed to get the best of her. He felt the shudder run through her and suddenly knew that she would never be free to love him until Aaron Hotchner was dead.

"NO" He was obviously seperated from reality and was now pointing the gun between JJ and Hotch. "You prove to me that we will be together, _SHOOT HIM!" _he positioned the gun next to her stomach. "SHOOT HIM, or the parasites inside you will die!"

The tears flowed freely now, as Hotch moaned "JJ, just do it."

BANG! The shot went off quickly. James extastically turned to see what he anticipated would be a very dead Aaron Hotchner. To his dismay, the only injuries on Hotch seemed to be the ones James had inflicted. In this momentary lapse of concentration, JJ quickly knocked the gun out of his hand, sliding it across the room towards Hotch and punched James hard in the nose, sending him backwards.

The team, unable to communicate with JJ had waited, hoping that communication would quickly be reestablished as Garcia worked furiously. Upon hearing the gunshot the team and SWAT members rushed the warehouse, surrounding JJ, Hotch and James. They quickly apprehended James, and carried him away as he screamed, "JENNIFER! WE WILL ALWAYS BE TOGETHER! I WILL FIND YOU!" repeatedly.

JJ ran to Hotch as Rossi called for a medic. Freeing him from the bonds which held him to the chair, he smiled at her. "I thought for a second you really might do it."

She laughed as the tears rolled down her cheeks. "Are you kidding? I'm one of the best shots in the FBI, it went 3 inches over your right shoulder."

Once his arms were free, he kissed her passionately. "I thought I may never see you again."

"I know. Let's get you to the hospital."


	11. Delivery

"No, JJ, don't you get up!" Hotch commanded as JJ attempted to refill their guests drinks. JJ smiled warily at Emily who could tell that her pregnant friend was reaching the end of her rope with her overprotective husband.

"Jayje, you really should just take advantage of this servitude." Garcia pointed out.

"Yeah, this is only going to last so long, when are the babies due?" Emily asked.

"They're due the 29th, but I'm getting started the 21st, so that's only about five days away!" JJ said excitedly.

"Until then, you're supposed to _relax_, remember?" Hotch added smiling as he reentered the room.

"Yeah, it's not every day you get Hotch to do whatever you want, normally he's just a drill sergent." Morgan laughed as his boss refilled his drink.

"You're just lucky we've been so busy these past couple of weeks or--" Hotch stopped as he saw JJ grimace. It had been four months since the ordeal, and he had healed nicely and quickly returned to work. JJ's doctor had instructed her to go on maternity leave two months ago, and the team knew how much she missed being in the field. This was a rare treat, the team together days after solving a difficult case, helping eachother unwind. It was something that happened more and more since JJ wasn't with them, almost like they had to reconnect with her before they could go on for another case.

"JJ, are you ok?" Rossi asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She dismissed as the pain passed. "I think it was just a contraction. I've been having them all day." She winced as another contraction hit. "I'm going to go to the bathroom." The rest of them stood worried at the idea that they couldn't do anything to help.

"JJ, are you ok?" This time it was Hotch that voiced his concern.

"Umm, my water just broke." JJ admitted to the stunned faces in her living room.

"Let's get you to the hospital!" Hotch said authoritatively, grabbing the keys as Morgan ran to pick up JJ.

"NO! I can walk!" She said exasperated as she swatted away Morgan's help.

* * *

It had been a good thing that they had driven straight from the office. The entire team piled into two SUV's and sped to the hospital in record time, with sirens and lights blaring. JJ had quickly gotten situated in a maternity room with Hotch as the team waited impatiently outside. Garcia would sit worrying in a chair and randomly get up to pace, then would sit back in her chair and worry some more. Morgan and Emily attempted to pass the time with idle conversation that neither was really paying attention to. Reid got several odd glances from the nurses as he appeared to flip through every magazine in the waiting room, although those who knew him knew that he was just reading at his normal pace. Rossi refused to talk to anyone, and simply stared at the entrance to the waiting room, waiting for Hotch to let them know. An hour passed before a nurse came to alert them.

"Mrs. Hotchner is asking for all of you."

Garcia entered the hospital room first and fled to her friend's side. "Jayje, how are you feeling?" She asked, JJ looked completely drained with beads of sweat still on her forehead.

"I'm tired." JJ responded smiling down at the small pink bundle in her arms.

"Would you like to meet your neices?" Hotch asked the team smiling as they filed in, a matching pink bundle in his own arms. "JJ, Jack and Hayley are coming in the morning and your parents will be here later tomorrow." JJ nodded and smiled happily.

Garcia held her arms out expectantly as JJ passed over the little girl in her arms. "Penelope Garcia, meet Rachel Amy Hotchner." The little girl barely stirred as Garcia began to coo at her.

"And who's this little tyke?" Rossi asked, his attempt to sound gruff, but it came out as more of a soft grandfatherly question.

"This beautiful little girl is Allison Jareau Hotchner." Hotch smiled, reluctantly handing over his little bundle to Prentiss.

Prentiss gingerly lifted the pink hat off the little girl, "Oh! Look at all of that hair! It's so dark!" She observed as she snuggled the newborn close before begrudgingly handing the little girl over to Rossi.

"Oh, this one has blonde little peach fuzz!" Garcia cooed, eyeing Morgan warningly as she protected the little girl in her arms.

"Come on! Garcia--" Morgan pleaded

"NO! How many girls have you broken their hearts! I will not let you near these little girls!" She said completely serious as the team laughed.

"Oh, don't you worry, I'll tackle any boy that comes within three feet of these little ladies." Rossi warned.

"Rossi, I would have never pegged you as the 'grandfather' type. You like babies?" Emily asked teasingly.

"I am never getting any of my own, so I will spoil these little girls as if they were my own flesh in blood." Rossi said without looking up from the little girl in his arms as Garcia reluctantly handed her little bundle over to Morgan who held the small newborn like a football.

"Morgan! You can't hold a little girl like that!" Garcia yelled.

"Actually, did you know that newborns simply like the security of being held tightly, so Morgan's way isn't necessarily wrong--" Reid stopped at seeing the angry glare from Garcia.

"Reid, do you want to hold her?" Hotch asked, noticing how the younger man seemed to stand as far away from the newborns as possible.

"Well, um...I mean..."

"Reid, you're not _scared_ are you?" JJ teased from her hospital bed.

"No. It's just...I've never...I mean...I just" Reid stuttered.

"You've never held a baby before?" Hotch supplied.

"Um. Yeah." Reid admitted as the team laughed.


	12. Babysitter

"Reid, I can't thank you enough for being willing to babysit, everybody else was busy." JJ said gratefully ushering the genius into their home.

"JJ, do we have any diapers?" Hotch called from upstairs, as he picked up his screaming 6 month old daughter. He chuckled slightly to himself. Rachel was much quieter than her sister. She only cried when she needed to be changed or when she was hungry and even then her cry was more of a moan or a whimper. Allie, on the other hand, seemed like she was always screaming---it just seemed that she screamed louder when she needed to be changed or was hungry. However when his girls were happy they were absolutely adorable.

"Yeah, there's some under the cabinet, and hurry up because Reid's here." JJ called up to him.

_EWW! _Hotch thought to himself as he changed the young girl's diaper. He had been out on cases for most of Jack's infancy, so he didn't have an immense amount of diaper changing experience. Quickly discarding the diaper he brought the now content baby downstairs.

"Look who's up from her nap!" Hotch tickled the small girl in his arms who began to giggle.

"Here, I'll go get Rachel and we'll get these hungry girls some dinner." The girls were now eating solid foods, and it was often hillarious to watch.

"The food's here, just let them play. You can give them a bath, and they'll probably be up for about an hour. Change them and put them to bed. Here's the number of the place we'll be eating at. Thanks so much for babysitting. This is the first time I've been able to get JJ out of the house other than a case." Hotch explained, and on seeing Reid's nervous expression encouraged, "You'll do fine."

* * *

Hotch and JJ sat down at the expensive restaurant and quickly ordered. Hotch watched her out of the corner of his eye. She was incredibly beautiful, and the more time he spent with her, the more time he wanted to spend with her. They had both returned to work, reluctantly leaving their daughters at the Bureau daycare. It had taken a little while for her to recover from the stress of what had happened, but it was unusual for her not to break out in a smile when she thought no one was looking. His favorite thing to do was to observe her when she thought others were preoccupied. When she knew eyes were on her, she was completely different--able to put up a wall to block out others.

"What?" She smiled at him, feeling his gaze on her. "Do I have sauce on my face or something?"

"No," He leaned over and kissed her quickly. "I was just thinking how beautiful you are."

"Isn't it funny that it's almost been a year and a half since that night at the bar?" JJ smiled, thinking of how lucky she was to be married to Aaron Hotchner.

"Yeah, speaking of that--I know that originally we said we'd only stay married for a year and a half--" he saw JJ's smile fall slightly, but she quickly regained her composure, "but somewhere along the way, I realized that I've loved you for as long as I've known you." Her bright smile returned.

"So, Jennifer Jareau, I'd like to make this real." He knelt down on one knee with an open ring box and a dazzling anniversary band as he looked up at her "JJ, will you stay married to me?"

"Um, I'll have to think about that." JJ laughed with tears in her eyes. "YES!" she wrapped her fingers in his hair and kissed him gratefully.

* * *

"Prentiss" Emily answered her phone after stepping away from her date.

"Emily, please come quick. I need your help!" Reid's exasperated voice sounded in her ear, crying children in the background.

"Reid, I'm on a date."

"Yet, you answered your phone, which means that this 'date' isn't going so well." Reid countered, "Please, I am surrounded by the Spawn of Satan."

Emily chuckled. "Reid, they are six month old girls. They are _not_ the Spawn of Satan." Emily smiled, thinking of the idea of Spencer Reid babysitting.

"Emily, I've heard you call Hotch 'Satan', and I am now completely agreeing with you." Reid had to shout over the loud crying of the girls.

"I have not!"

"Have too! March 7, 2008. Hotch called us all in on our day off and insited we go on a case." Reid smiled, he knew Emily was on the verge of coming to his rescue.

"Ok, fine. Give me twenty minutes."

* * *

Eighteen minutes later, Emily knocked sharply on Hotch's door. Reid immediately answered and looked like he was about to cry.

"What's wrong?" She asked quickly entering the home and seeing Allie screaming in her high chair, the only thing identifying the young girls were the color of their hair. She noticed how the entire house seemed to be turned upside-down.

"I lost one!" Reid admitted frantically. "I can't find her anywhere. I went to go get something and they were _both_ sitting in their chairs...I came back and Rachel was gone!"

"Well, she couldn't have gotten very far, you keep looking, I'll take care of Allie."

"Why do I have to keep looking?" Reid asked innocently.

"Because Reid, you _lost_ one of Hotch's kids." Emily asked, picking up the screaming girl who quieted suddenly. "Hey, aren't you a good girl. Looks like someone needs to be changed." Emily cooed as the girl threatened to cry again.

"Here Rachel. Here girl." Reid called, looking in cabinets and drawers.

"Reid, she's not a dog." Emily laughed, returning with the little girl who seemed content to sit in Emily's arms. "And you wonder why babies...or dogs for that matter...don't like you."

"So funny." Reid said sarcastically.

"I doubt she's in the silverware drawer." Emily observed as Reid opened and closed random drawers in the kitchen.

"FINE! You think you can find her, you look!" Reid snapped exasperated. Emily nodded, handing the little girl over to Reid who held her awkwardly as Allie began to squirm.

Looking under the dining room table, picked up the sleeping blonde twin and said "Look who I found!"

"She must have squirmed out of her high chair, and crawled under the table." Reid observed.

"Honestly, you looked in the silverware drawer, but not under the table?" Emily teased. "Apparently 3 PhD's mean nothing in common sense."

"Hey, it's not my fault the girl is Houdini. Manufacturers have safety regulations to prevent children from escaping the restraints, these particular high chairs have one of the highest saftey ratings in the country." Reid countered.

"Let me put her to bed, then we'll watch a movie." Emily laughed, taking the squirming girl out of Reid's arms and carrying both girls upstairs.

"I am never babysitting again!"


	13. Epilogue

**_AN/Ok, I know it's been forever since I updated this story and a lot of people stopped reading it. I wanted to give a couple of glances into the future, sending it off right._**

* * *

Funny. All of this had started with a broken heart, a night in a bar, and two little lines. JJ couldn't imagine her life any other way.

JJ smiled as her six year old daughter kicked the soccer ball to her hard. "Nice kick Allie." JJ said as the little girl beamed. She was one of the best players on her soccer team, even at the tender age of six, and JJ couldn't help but be extremely proud of her young daughter. Rachel had detested soccer from the first moment she had started to play, and although JJ still secretly held out hope that her prodigal daughter would change her ways, she would support her daughters in all of there endevors.

Hotch was in front of their home intently teaching their daughter how to ride a bicycle. It was interesting to see how the twins personalities were so different. Both were smart girls who seemed to get along well with everybody. Rachel was more interested in playing with dolls and playing dressup, while her sister prefered climbing trees and playing outside. She watched him as he interacted with their daughter. He was surprisingly gentle, the perfect dad for a little girl. Days at home with him dressing up as Prince Charming were not uncommon in their household.

Her musings were interrupted by a red SUV that pulled in front of their home. Although it had been years since JJ's stalker, she seemed extra vigilant over any possible threat to her duaghters. Hotch reacted instinctively at the sight of the red SUV, sending Rachel back towards her mother and sister, not seeing who it was in the car.

"Jason?" Hotch asked as the shadowed figure exited the car.

"Hotch." Gideon smiled as he exited the car.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to say 'I'm sorry'." Gideon supplied as he offered Hotch a handshake. "I'm sorry for the way I left, I just--"

"You don't even need to say it. We understand." Hotch ignored the hand and embraced Gideon. "We've missed you."

"And I heard there were two beautiful princesses that I haven't yet met." Gideon smiled as they approached the little girls standing close to their mother.

"Gideon?" JJ asked surprised.

"Hello JJ, its been too long" He said as JJ came and stood next to her husband, "So, love is in the air eh?"

The happy couple giggled "We have our girls to thank for that" Hotch said smiling at JJ, he motioned for the two small girls to come towards him.

"Jason Gideon, this is Rachel and this is Allison, uh, so what do we owe this suprise?" Hotch asked as the girls shyly hid close to their parents.

"It was just time to tie up loose ends." Gideon explained mysteriously.

"Well, I was just about to get dinner ready, would you like to stay?" JJ asked, silently communicating with Hotch through her gaze.

"Oh, I don't know--" Gideon started.

"Please. We'd like you to stay. What if we invited the whole team?" Hotch offered as JJ nodded.

"I'd like that."

The girls spent the night talking animatedly, explaining to Gideon and an ever interested Rossi the details of butterflies and a new soccer move that Allie had learned. The rest of the team had come, and although there had been an awkward moment between Gideon and Reid, it felt oddly like a family reunion--full of teasing Spence about his new girlfriend and watching Emily's excitement at the sight of Brayden (her long-term boyfriend) sitting next to her.

Life was far better than JJ had ever imagined.

* * *

**_11 years later_**

"Mom, do you want me to go get you a drink?" 17 year old Rachel asked. JJ and her daughter were sitting on the sidelines of the soccer field, watching as the girls soccer team warmed up. Allie was the center midfielder, and had several collge scouts watching her. JJ was very proud of her daughter, and she was probably more nervous for this game than her daughter was. It was the conference championships, and Allie was the star player.

JJ smiled at the sight of her two daughters. She and Hotch had encouraged the girls to explore their differences, and were surprised at how two twin girls could end up being so different.

Rachel, phsyically at least, seemed to be a taller replication of JJ. Hotch constantly teased that her personality was all JJ, but really, the similarities between mother and daughter ended were purely in appearances. Rachel was slightly more introverted--similar to Hotch. She was clever, she could read people and get them to act in the way she wanted. Rachel was largly involved in choir and drama, something JJ hadn't been able to stand in her childhood. Her blonde daughter also was leaning towards becoming a doctor or a scientist, as she loved her chemistry and biology classes. There was little question that she would definitely get an academic scholarship to any college of her choice--although Grandpa Rossi had already committed to send both girls to any prestigious university.

Allie seemed to take after Hotch. Long straight dark hair and dark eyes, she was an inch shorter than her sister. Allie loved sports, and although she did well in school, she deemed it more of a social interaction than a learning experience. Allie was gregarious, she had many friends but had a tough time opening up to and really trusting people. She couldn't carry a tune if her life depended on it, and was secretly envious of her sister's many talents. Allie did well in school, in large measure with the help of her sister--her best subjects being English and History.

"No, I'm sure your dad will be here soon. Thanks honey." JJ replied. Ever since Hotch had been promoted to Section Chief, he had longer and longer hours. He _always_ was on time for the games, though.

"Hey, Dad's here, looks like he brought the entire FBI, and _sandwiches!_" Hotch quickly emerged from the SUV in shirt and tie carrying a large bag of food and drinks, followed quickly by Gideon and Rossi. Both men had adopted the girls as surrogate grandparents.

"Hey. Morgan is finishing up a case. He and their team said they'd come when they could." He kissed her quickly and sat down next to her. Morgan had been promoted to Unit Chief following Hotch's promotion. JJ still worked for the unit, but was able to do a lot of the work out of the field--calling reporters and getting out information from home rather than traveling with the team. She had been the pioneer for a video press conference, and was usually on the cutting edge of new technology.

"Here Rach." Rossi reached into one of the bags and handed her a small package.

"Is that pastrami?" Rachel asked excitedly.

"Of course! You think I'd forget your favorite sandwich?" Hotch asked his daughter, and asked quietly, pointing to the field, "Is she nervous?"

"Not nearly as nervous as I am. Oh look the game is starting."

---------

"Als, you were awesome!" Rachel exclaimed as Allie walked in the front door. The game had come down to a shoot-out and Allie's kick had been the determining factor--winning the conference championships. Allie had eventually seperated from her ecstatic teammates and driven home.

"Didn't you see how I let that girl get past me? It made me so mad! She almost scored!" Allie said angrily, finally able to vent her imperfect game.

"Yeah but she didn't." JJ said from the kitchen.

* * *

**_8 years later_**

Aaron Hotchner was full of emotion as he danced with his newly married daughter. Allie sat back in the crowd with Devin, her husband of two years. She had graduated from college where she met her husband several years before and was now working at a local high school as an English teacher. Jack was off to the side with his girlfriend Annie, content to support his little sisters.

Here he was, dancing his final dance with his beautiful daughter. Who could have imagined that his life would have ended up so good? He thought of the little girl in his arms, the doctor who had just begun practicing medicine--still working and studying so she could be saving lives as a heart surgeon. Looking down in her eyes as the song finished its main part and he was encouraged to hand her over to Eric, she smiled up at him brightly.

"I love you daddy."

He couldn't hold it together any more. Gingerly handing her over to her new husband, he walked over to his wife with tears in his eyes.

"It's hard to imagine that at one point this wasn't our life." JJ added knowingly, for the first time he noticed the little grey that had begun to adorn her temples, knowing that his own hair had become more of a salt and pepper than the jet black of his youth.

"I know."

"Funny to think it all started with two little lines." She mused, thinking of the pregnancy test that changed her life.

"No. I think it started the day you walked into my office." He countered kissing her passionately.

_"It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages."_

_-Friedrich Nitzsche_

* * *

**_AN/There you have it. I wanted to give this story an epilogue, so there you go! Hope you liked it!_**


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